Never Free To Be You And Me
by rogueop452
Summary: Continuation of my other two Kyle XY stories. What happens when Cassidy tries to control Kyle again. Oh and it's Kessi all the way. Enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

**A.N.** I do not own Kyle XY or any of these characters.

Never Free To Be You And Me

Prologue or author's note…or…it's whatever. Just thought this was needed…

When we last left them, everyone in the Trager household was eager for their lives to get back to some semblance of normalcy. But was that really a possibility or was it all just a pipe dream or wishful thinking on their part?

After a spontaneous three day vacation to Disneyland, Kyle and his family hadn't actually come back believing that dreams or wishes come true, but the time away _had_ given them all a fresh perspective on the problems they might still be facing upon their return. But little did they know the extent of the problems they would encounter with Latnok. Had they known the maniacal blood lust Grace Kingsley's first born son had for exacting revenge on Kyle, they might have opted not to return to Seattle, or in the very least they might just have decided to stay sequestered away in the land of dreams and fantasy for a little while longer.

But luckily for Amanda Bloom they did return. After all, how else was she going to get cured from what now ailed her courtesy of Latnok, or more specifically, courtesy of a certain employee of Latnok, Grace Kinglsey's number one son, Michael Cassidy.

Or _was_ he number one in his mother's eyes? Had he ever really been once Kyle entered into the equation? And wasn't that the main underlying cause of his jealousy and hatred for Kyle? But I digress…The real story, where does the family go from here after the big fight scene at the end of season three and after their trip to Disneyland to follow.

And just a little reminder or for those who might not have read Trials and Tribulations or Gypsies Scamps and Thieves…Kyle and Jessi come home from Disneyland with a whole lot more than a Tigger and a Winnie the Pooh t-shirt. They come back sporting a brand new relationship, much to Nicole and Stephen's mutual dismay. But don't worry, the parental units have since learned to cope with the situation of having two pod children who are romantically involved while living under their roof. Well at least for the most part anyway. They're still working through all the fun filled details concerning what kind of behavior is appropriate in the house for the dynamic duo now that they are a couple. And of course Jessi, and Kyle are still abiding by the rules that his parents come up with along the way no matter how strict they might seem to the young couple. Although Jessi has the occasional tendency to test the limits of their newfound boundaries, Kyle tries to keep her on the right path…and vice versa of course...wink wink nudge nudge yeah right Jessi would do that for sure wouldn't she?

So without further ado here's the first chapter of the story I promised a few months back…Please let me know what you think or I might just get offended and hide away for _another_ few months. There…I gave you an idea how to get rid of me. It'll work I promise.

Chapter 1

It had been nearly a month, and despite the Trager's woes and worries Cassidy hadn't as of yet reappeared after that nearly fatal night when he'd made his shocking announcement that he wasn't Grace Kingsley's only biological son in a desperate attempt to stop the unexpected force of nature being unleashed upon him…otherwise known as Kyle Trager. However his absence from their life was more injury related than by design. Cassidy had bitten off more than he could chew on that night and was still recuperating from the consequences of provoking terror in his victim.

Michael Cassidy had learned a couple of new things about his brother during those agonizingly painful moments as he hung mid air, fighting for his life...one, that Kyle was no victim and another, that his love for his family knew no bounds. Recognizing the fierce look in Kyle's eyes after suggesting that Jessi, along with Amanda and his family would now be the main focus of his threats, he had quickly realized the potentially disastrous miscalculation he had made and was left with only one alternative. Reveal the secret he had been forced to keep or have the life slowly and painfully choked out of him. Gasping for air, Cassidy had felt Kyle's grip slacken on his throat ever so subtly the moment he'd eked the words through his cold hard lips that Grace Kingsley was his mother. Seconds had passed though they had felt more like an eternity before he'd been able to manage the coup de grace clincher that they were brothers.

Kyle had gasped nearly inaudibly over Cassidy's own harsh attempts to suck in air through his crushed windpipe, and a shell shocked look had quickly replaced the anger in his eyes as his newest and latest arch nemesis's words had sunk in. If Kyle had emitted any verbal response to Cassidy's astounding proclamation that he was his brother, such as that he didn't believe him or that he was nothing more than a lying son of a bitch, it was lost to him as his oxygen starved brain failed him.

After a much needed hiatus, it wasn't until a week later; when Cassidy awoke in the hospital after emergency surgery to repair his voice box that he was able to mentally grasp how truly close he had come to death. Once he'd assessed the damage done to him, he knew he'd gotten off easy from the strong-arm tactics his half-brother had recently adopted, with a cracked skull and a broken larynx. Or at least that's what he had thought until his mother had paid him a visit.

Michael Cassidy's relationship with his mother, Grace Kingsley had always been strained at best but after his complete and utter failure to rein Kyle in and Kyle's subsequent successful mission he had carried out with Jessi to destroy the cloning pods, any respect she had for him had vanished along with the extremely valuable formula for the growth hormones. It was then, as his mother stood over him, berating him for his incompetent performance as he lay in his hospital bed, struck mute and unable to defend the course of action he'd taken, that Cassidy had vowed to exact revenge against Kyle, in a most excruciatingly painful manner. He would make him pay for what he'd done. Regrets he'd have more than a few. And then in the end he would force his hand, making him bargain for his loved ones. Starting with Jessi just like he'd promised. He'd get Kyle to join Latnok come hell or high water.

A steady drip of Morphine coursing through his veins Cassidy was still lucid enough to realize he had to be subtle about it in order to not provoke his mother's evil vindictive side if things were somehow to go horribly wrong again. And on top of that, he had a new force to reckon with…Kyle's undoubtedly lethal protective side. But even with that heavy cloud of fear hanging over his head Cassidy was willing to risk it all for one sweet taste of vengeance.

And so with an anticipatory hint of ambrosia already touching his lips, he watched his mother depart the room, oozing disappointment and too concerned with the repercussions her son's mistakes had cost her, as well as Latnok, to offer him any kind of sympathy for his physical ailments. It was then that Cassidy made the call to put his plan into affect, summoning one if his top agents to his bedside with a text message. One could only imagine the outrage he'd felt when he learned that Kyle and his whole entire family including Jessi had left for Disneyland earlier that morning. The mere thought of Kyle enjoying himself and relaxing with his family on vacation made Cassidy's blood boil. But then after much teeth gnashing and a slight increase on the morphine drip he had calmed down enough to realize his luck. Both Kyle and Jessi were gone, which meant that of his extended group of family and friends, he'd left Amanda temporarily unattended. The moment he came to that realization the wheels started turning.

Adjustments were made, plans revised. And on that very same day that Jessi, Kyle and his family left for Disneyland, while jogging down her street, Amanda Bloom was kidnapped...yes again. And just like that first time on Prom Night from start to finish, five long hours out of her life and she was totally unaware of what had happened to her. Clueless to a lot of things in the past, such as how Kyle could float and the real reason's behind why he was so frickin smart, she never knew what hit her. Not that anyone actually hit Amanda or chipped her again once they absconded from the scene with her, no of course not. After all, why resort to violence and leave evidence of foul play when science's best inventions were available to you. A little concoction of drugs to put her under and ready her consciousness for some super cool downloading and then a somewhat spontaneous trip of her own in the revamped CIR chair…and then viola, five hours later a new personality is introduced into her consciousness, without the need for the memory erasing chip Latnok used the first time around when they kidnapped her. And then, quickly before the drugs wear off, its back home you go mate and cheerio come back soon for stage two of Cassidy's revenge if her psyche needs a little extra tweaking.

Back safe at home again, did anyone even notice that she had been missing? Certainly not her mother, who had been enjoying the deep sleeping effects of a product concocted by Latnok and later added to her open bottle of pinot noir. With both mother and daughter obliviously dreaming the night away the real question on Cassidy's mind had been did his plan work?

Perhaps the fact that she'd taken the news of Kyle's budding new romance with Jessi so well a few days later should have been a major clue to Kyle as well as those who knew her best. But then those who knew Amanda Bloom best in the past didn't really know her anymore now did they? She wasn't quite the same young sweet girl that everyone remembered. And it was only now, a little over two weeks after her visit to the CIR machine that everyone was starting to notice. The most startling factor on everyone's mind being her change of appearance.

And so it begins….


	2. Chapter 2

**A.N.** I do not own Kyle XY or any of these characters.

Never Free To Be You And Me

Chapter 2

It was early Friday evening at the Trager house and Nicole had just called everyone to dinner. Kyle closed Jessi's door softly behind him and headed down the hallway. Making a quick stop just outside of the foyer he stood in front of the pair of framed mirrors, taking a moment to smooth the static-laden hair still dancing around his head. Being around Jessi was electrical in more ways than one, and this time wasn't any different.

His bluish-green eyes lit with enthusiasm he continued the short trek to the kitchen and dining area. Thanks to his incredibly fast metabolism he was starving so he hastened his step as he rounded the corner, his mouth watering in anticipation for what was to come.

A little surprised to see the formal dining room table set for dinner on a Friday night, Kyle heard the sound of someone pouring pasta into the colander, and…taking in the sweet aroma of chicken baking coming from the kitchen…thought it all slightly odd. He had overheard Nicole telling Stephen before he left for work that morning that she would be making her special Lasagna with meatballs for dinner. Not too overly concerned, he shrugged it off as he stepped across the threshold into the dining room, deciding the menu change might just be a good thing.

Ever since the hoverboard competition a couple of months back Kyle had noticed that whenever the topic of making Lasagna came up in conversation, Jessi's heart would race as if she were feeling nervous or guilty about something. Curious about every aspect of his girlfriend's life, he couldn't help but wonder about the strange aversion she seemed to have for that particular pasta dish. Why she reacted that way and what emotional significance Lasagna held for Jessi was something Kyle had wanted to ask her but hadn't. For reasons of his own, the thought or mention of Lasagna always brought mixed feelings. A few weeks after they had broken up and a couple of days before the competition, he remembered feeling hopeful, when Amanda promised to make dinner for him and his family, that she still harbored feelings for him.

After the fact, along with her own true feelings for him, Jessi finally confessed to him that Amanda had stopped by the house when he was otherwise occupied with his hoverboard prototype… soaring across the stage to win the prize money to pay Nicole's hospital bills…but she never actually made the Lasagna like she had said she would, and in the end, they never did get back together. Not that the two things were related in any way or that Amanda making dinner for his family would have altered the course of events that led to his current relationship, but still to this day it was a mystery to him what had made her change her mind. Good natured, soft spoken and extremely dependable, if Amanda said she was going to do something you could count on it getting done.

Kyle had a preoccupied look on his face as he pulled his chair out and sat down at the dining room table, for the first time wondering if that had been a prelude to another bigger issue. Lately he had been noticing a change in his ex girlfriend's behavior. Was it just him or was Amanda being…cold, more distant than she'd ever been before? Surely he hadn't imagined the annoyed look behind her eyes that morning at school, or the angry, almost hostile way she slammed her locker shut. Of course he might just have given her a reason to act the way she did, though it hadn't been his intention.

Absentmindedly unfolding his napkin across his lap, Kyle furrowed his brow as he thought back on what had happened. Taking into consideration the way he had sprung the news on her upon returning from Disneyland and her more recent curious change in demeanor, he should have known better than to flaunt his new relationship practically in Amanda's face like that, but…not that he was making an excuse for his actions…he simply couldn't help himself when it came to Jessi, nor could he have avoided the situation when she waylaid him in the hallway to thank him for sticking up for her when she refused to dissect an earthworm during their AP Biology class on the ethical grounds that it was still alive.

Kyle could understand completely where Jessi was coming from. No matter how small and insignificant the creature might seem he had no desire whatsoever to kill something simply for the purpose of seeing its heart beating, which was one of the main reasons behind why he had sided with her in her beliefs and joined her in opting out on the dissection. Jessi had smiled at him gratefully when, as a result, their camaraderie had put an end to the snickering and any teasing remarks their classmates had been on the verge of making.

_Thank you Kyle,_ Jessi had transmitted to him telepathically from across the classroom, _that was really sweet of you._

Kyle had smiled at her in return and thinking the matter over with, had gone about doing the extra assignment the teacher had given them in lieu of completing the dissection. Little did he know at the time the extent of his girlfriend's gratitude.

Which was why, after class, when he'd been walking towards his locker and without warning Jessi pulled him aside, he'd had absolutely no clue what her intentions had been. Generally less impulsive, and perhaps more inclined…at least at first…to settle for a quick kiss on the cheek, her lips had felt so soft, so warm and welcoming. How could he resist? He knew he should have when she pulled him close, sliding her arms around him and kissing him softly. But yet he hadn't. Startled at first, he quickly recovered and kissed her back just as softly. He remembered tasting Jessi's peppermint lip gloss and thinking how different it was from what he was used to and how much more he preferred the cool stimulating effect over the sweet cherry flavored lip gloss that Amanda used to wear.

Kyle could feel the heat rising to his face as he recalled, how moments after that bittersweet revelation, the kiss had deepened until he forgot everything and everyone around them. And as had been the case earlier that day with the earsplitting bang of Amanda's locker slamming shut, Kyle had to pull himself from the moment and quickly gather his thoughts, when the sound of Stephen's voice coming from the bottom of the stairway interrupted his reverie.

"I'm not sure why the circuit breaker for your bedroom keeps popping Josh."

"Yeah, me neither."

Carrying a pitcher of raspberry ice tea she'd just made to the dinner table, Lori let out a snort from the kitchen entranceway. "Maybe it has something to do with Jessi's room being right under yours," she mumbled under her breath, and feeling a wave of trepidation wash over him, Kyle's hands gripped the napkin in his lap. "God…Why are men so oblivious?"

"Hmm…Must be one of those mysteries of life that we'll never solve. I'll try to take a look at the fuse box later," Stephen replied with a quick pat on Josh's shoulder before they headed to opposite ends of the dining room, and the extent of his alarm lessoning somewhat, Kyle shifted a little guiltily in his seat, grateful that he and Jessi were the only ones in the house with super hearing.

"Can you fix it right after dinner Dad?" Josh whined as he pulled out his chair across from Kyle. "I really need to get online soon. I have a skype date with Andy at seven."

"Sure," Stephen replied skimming his hand lightly over Kyle's shoulder as he passed behind his chair. "I'll try. But if for some reason I can't get to it, I'm sure Kyle will be willing to take some time away from his busy schedule and give it a look. Right son?"

"Sure, I can do that, no problem," Kyle replied looking up just in time to catch Stephen flicking something from his fingertips. His eyes widened in dismay as he watched a small clump of what looked to be white fuzz gently floating to the ground. Recognizing it immediately he quickly looked away, hoping no one else could tell that it was a piece of faux fur from the stuffed teddy bear on Jessi's bed, because if they did, they might possibly make the connection and figure out the real reason behind the problem with the connection in the fuse box.

Crisis averted and his pulse rate returning to normal, Kyle smiled pleasantly at Josh and Stephen as they blithely seated themselves at their usual places at the dinner table, feeling totally glad that he'd at least had the foresight to remove the static from his hair after departing his girlfriend's company. He didn't want his parents putting two and two together and guessing what they had been doing for the last hour. He was hopeful no one had noticed the lingering blush on his cheeks from thoughts of Jessi and kissing…lots of kissing and more.

Both Kyle's hope and his smile died an instant death when after pulling his chair up closer to the table, Stephen looked his way, a questioning look coming over his features.

"Were you out in the sun today Kyle?" he asked, seeing the pink tinge on his cheeks and at a loss for words, Kyle simply stared at Stephen and he at him until yet another unexpected snicker diverted their attention. Josh was too busy stuffing his face with garlic toast to care much about what was going on around him, although, along with Stephen, he did offer Lori a muffled 'thank you'.

"I was," Kyle replied distractedly, as he looked over at Lori, who was standing between where Stephen and Josh were sitting, nonchalantly filling their glasses with ice tea.

From her less than clandestine reaction, Kyle knew his sister at least had more than an inkling of a suspicion of what he and Jessi had been up to just prior to Nicole calling everyone to dinner and was a bit irritated by it. But Kyle also knew, even if she didn't particularly agree with how they were handling the situation they were in, she would never rat either of them out to their parents. Appreciative of the special brother/sister bond that they shared, Kyle met Lori's surreptitious glance and, along with his empty glass, offered her a genuine smile.

"Well you should have used sun block," Stephen said, drawing his attention back to him. "What were you doing anyway? I thought you were tied up with school and homework all day." On the verge of answering, Kyle hesitated ever so briefly. Unfortunately the pause was long enough for Lori, who evidently unable to resist, felt compelled to get in one last dig. At least Kyle hoped it was her last dig.

"He was tied up with something alright," she mumbled, her unanticipated remark throwing him momentarily off guard and nearly causing him to spill the glass of ice tea he was holding.

Just what was his sister implying, Kyle wondered as he quickly took a sip of his drink to cover up the awkward look that had come over his features? He and Jessi might have recently engaged in a steamy passionate kissing session on her roomy queen sized bed, but there had been no tying up involved whatsoever. Luckily Lori had once again uttered her comment discreetly and her father and Josh hadn't picked up on it, because if either one of them had heard it, Kyle was positive they would never have let what she had said slide.

"I was playing a little one on one on the courts at the park after school with Josh," Kyle said in a rush, eager to shift the topic to something else. Perhaps a little too eager he decided, from the look that briefly passed over Stephen's face. It was a look he recognized from numerous occasions in the past…though it wasn't usually directed at him…as if his dad knew he wasn't being completely honest with him.

Even though his statement was true and he had actually been playing basketball with Josh earlier that same afternoon, Kyle was aware that his explanation as to why his face was flushed still counted as telling a little white lie, a concept that, although it had originally been hard for him to grasp, he now understood the need.

"And I shouldn't have even bothered," Josh complained, bits of bread flying out of his mouth and down onto his plate. "Kyle's too good for one on one."

"As good as Kyle is at basketball, Declan can still beat him," his sister boasted for her ex, a peculiar, smug tone in her voice. Feeling three pairs of curious eyes upon her, Lori glanced around the table as she set the pitcher down, giving a deer caught in headlights look. It was obvious to everyone why she'd said that but, trying to be sensitive that she still liked Declan and regretted not getting back together with him when he made the offer after Prom, neither Stephen or Kyle made a comment. Too bad Josh's sensitivity meter was still in the shop.

"What about Mark? You know…Your _current_ boyfriend? I bet the only 'one on one' that dork plays is in Mortal Kombat." Josh chewed on his tongue as he mimed clicking the joy stick on an Xbox 360 controller. "What a nerd."

"Um…_You_ play Mortal Kombat," Lori pointed out to Josh as she took her seat next to him.

Josh gazed at his sister in a dumbfounded manner before turning his attention back to the food in his hand. "Whatever," he murmured, while simultaneously taking a huge bite out of his second piece of garlic bread.

Knowing she'd succinctly put her brother in his place, a small satisfied grin appeared on Lori's face as she unfolded her napkin and neatly placed it in her lap. However her delight was short lived. When she looked up and saw Jessi walking towards the dinner table her eyes narrowed and a slightly disgruntled look washed over her features.

"Sorry I'm late," Jessi said as she pulled her chair out and sat down next to Kyle.

"Actually you're not late," Stephen replied with a warm smile. "In fact you're right on time."

"Not really." Lori glared accusingly at Jessi from her seat across the table. "So where were you Jessi? It was your turn to set the table. Mom said she called your name like ten times but you didn't answer."

Kyle physically blanched before turning to look at Jessi, who, feeling all eyes upon her, blushed a familiar shade of red. "I was um…"

"Weren't you doing homework earlier Jessi?" Kyle offered quickly, knowing his girlfriend's propensity for blurting out the wrong things when cornered or under pressure. Not that telling the truth was wrong.

"Yes…I was," Jessi replied, quickly catching on, and it was true Kyle told himself, Jessi _had_ actually been doing her homework earlier that day. However, right before dinner she had been making out with him in her bedroom. And the door had been closed at the time. Two offenses that would get them grounded if they got caught.

"Really? You were doing…homework?" Lori asked in a suspicious tone that Kyle was sure wouldn't go unnoticed.

"Yep…That's exactly what I was doing," Jessi replied undaunted and shooting a furtive glance at Kyle, a playful smile touched the corners of her mouth. "And I'm still not completely finished."

In order to avoid suspicion, Kyle had to try not to smile too much, the negligible amount of guilt he was feeling making it a little easier. It seemed he wasn't the only one weaving a tangled web of little white lies that night.

"Foods almost ready," Nicole called out from the kitchen and both Kyle and Jessi were grateful for the distraction.

"Lori…why don't you go see if your mother needs any help," Stephen suggested and there was a few seconds of silence as Lori gaped at him with her mouth open.

"Gah...But I was just helping her," she complained. "Why can't Jessi do it?" She stared at Jessi, ignoring her father's impatient glance. "After all, she owes me big time."

"Okay," Jessi said, ignoring the fact that Lori was implying a whole lot more than she was saying and smiling cheerfully she half rose from the table, "I don't mind..."

"Jessi sit down," Stephen ordered and surprised at the rarity of Stephen directing his gruffness at her, she immediately sat back down.

"I believe I asked you to do something?" Stephen said, nodding Lori's way.

"Unbelievable…" Begrudgingly rising from the table Lori tossed her napkin down onto her plate. "Why don't you ever ask Josh or Kyle to help in the kitchen? Oh wait, don't tell me…It's because they take the trash out and mow the lawn."

"Don't even go there kiddo," Stephen said with a patient smile. "This is not a case of gender bias. Doing chores and helping out around the house is a way for you to work off the deductible we had to pay the insurance company for the dent you put in your mom's car, remember?"

"Fine," Lori replied in an overly dramatic voice as if finally realizing there was no use in arguing the point.

Not that that ever stopped her in the past, Kyle thought to himself. A smile working its way across his face he watched Lori as she scooted back her chair and headed for the kitchen all the while murmuring something about sexism and stigmatizing labels.

"Hmm," Josh said a look of confusion on his face and his third piece of garlic toast hovering inches from his mouth. "What does a horror movie about exorcism have to do with doing chores?"

Kyle thought about it for a few moments, but he really had no idea. He looked to Stephen as a look of enlightenment flickered across his father's face.

"I believe the movie you're referring to is called _Stigmata_ Josh," he informed his son. "But I'm not sure if it was really intended to be a horror film."

Josh shrugged. "Whatever the genre, it had some pretty gruesome scenes just the same. Like when the girl was in the hospital and her wrists were like totally gushing blood…"

Her arm brushing against his, Kyle could sense Jessi's wince before he saw it.

"This isn't a proper dinner topic Josh," Stephen scolded lightly, also noticing the slight cringe, even though she tried to cover it up with a small smile.

"Why," Josh asked with a quirk of his brow, "'Cause of all the blood? But it was so cool…especially the part when…"

"That's enough son. In fact why don't you go see what you can do to help your mom and sister in the kitchen?"

Josh smirked. "But that's women's work," he said and Jessi's smile widened as she looked at Josh. In a matter of moments, it had turned into a full fledged grin.

"That's a good one," she said, knowing he was making a joke, although Kyle wasn't all too sure he had meant it as such.

At his father's continued dark look Josh smiled good naturedly. "I know…I'm going." He got up and left the room. The moment he was gone Stephen cleared his throat.

"All right you two lovebirds I'm on to you…so let's get something straight…"


	3. Chapter 3

**A.N.** I do not own Kyle XY or any of these characters.

Never Free To Be You And Me

Chapter 3

"All right you two lovebirds I'm on to you," Stephen said after clearing his throat as well as Lori and Josh from the dining room, "so let's get something straight…"

Kyle's breath caught as his father's words sank in. _Oh no,_ he thought nervously, _here it comes…Jessi and I are in trouble. _In the middle of his own thoughts he jumped a little when he heard a voice that wasn't his own in his head…

_Busted…_

"…Nicole and I haven't asked you two to break up nor will we do so," Stephen went on to say in a quiet but determined manner and though it never occurred to him that they would ask that, Kyle relaxed somewhat into his chair. "But here's what it boils down to. We've been way too lenient when it comes to you two. And you know what I'm referring to." Stephen paused to make direct eye contact, first with Kyle and then with Jessi. "You do know what I'm referring to, right?"

Kyle turned in his seat a little to meet Jessi's gaze, remembering what had transpired between them in the recent past…or more accurately put what had been on the verge of happening between them in the hotel room back in Disneyland before Stephen and Nicole walked in on them.

Jessi arched an eyebrow at him as if to say she knew exactly what Stephen was referring to and had no qualms whatsoever about him using it as a reference point for one of his fatherly rants. A subtle grin appeared on her face but vanished a second later. Kyle blushed as an image of the two of them naked and pressed up against each other as they shared a steamy kiss flashed into his head. He pushed it away before turning his attention back to Stephen, who by the look he was giving them was waiting for some kind of response. Without further ado both he and Jessi nodded that they were aware of what he was referring to…though neither was aware of where the conversation was headed.

"Good," Stephen said in a satisfied tone. "I'm glad we're all on the same page. And we are all in agreement that what happened back then was a result of a combination of circumstances that won't be repeated. You were on vacation in the happiest place on earth, where everything seemed so magical and when your relationship was all so very exciting and new to you both." He tilted his head and smiled ever so faintly. "Well in case you haven't noticed, we're home now kids…back to the daily grind…"

Three sets of eyes shifted towards the kitchen as Lori rounded the corner carrying a plate of steaming vegetables. Stephen leaned back in his chair and unaware of the tension in the room Lori casually set the plate down on the center of the table. She was about to take her seat across from Jessi when Nicole called out from the kitchen.

"Lori, don't forget the serving spoon."

Lori rolled her eyes before reluctantly heading back to the kitchen, muttering all the way, "And don't' forget you have a son who's perfectly capable of transporting it to the table."

Kyle laughed softly to himself, albeit a little uncomfortably suspecting his father wasn't done speaking to him and Jessi about their behavior, and right on cue, the moment his sister was out of hearing range Stephen continued on, seemingly unfazed by the short interruption.

"In my opinion…" he began in the same serious tone, and all traces of Kyle's amusement instantly disappeared. "…you two deserve a chance to prove your relationship can work while you're both living under our roof. For the most part your success or failure rests entirely upon your shoulders. Being highly intelligent won't necessarily help you…but I will tell you something that should."

Kyle and Jessi looked at Stephen curiously, the both of them wondering what great words of wisdom he would offer them.

Stephen leaned in and said in a matter of fact tone. "You need to take things slow and not rush into certain situations that you may regret later." He smiled fondly at the both of them, taking in their increasingly apprehensive expressions. "And believe me; I'm well aware that both your versions of taking things slow might not be quite in sync. I like romantic dinners out, Nicole prefers candlelit evenings at home. Our relationship expectations have changed over the years but they've always been met. Every now and then we change things slightly…Like with making Lasagna…A little more mozzarella, less garlic, more garlic, less Italian sausage and hamburger more tofu and spinach…Even without…certain ingredients…you can still have a satisfactory and healthy meal prepared exactly to your taste and preference…" He let his words trail off when Lori once again rounded the corner, large serving spoon in hand.

"Oh…and Lori?" Nicole called out from the kitchen and, an annoyed look coming over her face, Lori stopped dead in her tracks. "Can you get the tub of butter out of the fridge?"

_What's your dad talking about? _Jessi asked Kyle telepathically as the three of them watched Lori turn on her heal and head back into the kitchen.

_I'm not really sure;_ he transmitted back to her truthfully. It had been obvious to Kyle from the beginning that his father was on their side since he was the one that had talked Nicole into giving them a second chance. He must have known how important his relationship with Jessi was to him…and vice versa of course…and how hard it would be for him to choose between his family and Jessi. Stephen hadn't needed his wife's psychoanalysis skills to figure that out. He just knew. Though not as intuitive as his mother, Kyle thought his father's instinctive knowledge of how to gauge emotions by reading expressions to be impressive. But somehow Kyle didn't think his father knew how utterly bewildered both he and Jessi were at the moment, however he was soon proved wrong.

"Are you two following me?" Stephen asked once Lori was safely out of earshot.

"Um…mostly," Kyle replied tactfully, not wanting to hurt his father's feelings by admitting that he was having a hard time understanding the point he was trying to make. Jessi simply shook her head to the negative, with a hopeful look on her face that he would soon clarify whatever it was he was trying to say.

"Okay then," Stephen said, "I realize I may have gotten a little lost in my analogy, but…bottom line?"

"Well I hope everyone brought their appetites to the table, because there's plenty of everything to go around," Nicole said as she rounded the corner carrying a steaming plate of pasta and Stephens final words on the subject were spoken quietly but in a language they both understood.

"Cool it you guys before your mother finds out and the s**t really hits the fan. Kapeesh?"

_Kapeesh? _Jessi asked Kyle after a moment of her mulling it all over.

_He's asking us if we understand, _he replied and turning his attention away from her momentarily as he thought over what his father had just said, he missed Jessi's look of enlightenment as a revelation came over her.

"Nicole," she said once dinner was on the table, everyone was seated and it was relatively quiet. "If you and Stephen are thinking about going vegan, you should really cut back on the mozzarella." She glanced back at Stephen, eager to share her knowledge on the subject. "Real vegans don't eat cheese."

A.N. Okay I know this was a short one. Hope you liked it anyway. The next one will be longer, I promise.


	4. Chapter 4

**A.N.** I do not own Kyle XY or any of these characters nor do I own the song lyrics mentioned below. Thought this might be more apropos to post this tomorrow on Friday, but I couldn't wait. Anyway...Enjoy.

Never Free To Be You And Me

Chapter 4

"So neither one of you is planning on becoming a vegan?"

Nicole laughed as she dished out a portion of chicken and pasta onto her plate. "No Jessi, we're not. What made you think we were?"

"My bet is she completely pulled it out of her butt."

"Lori…"

"I was just saying," Lori replied, and not giving her father's halfhearted warning much credence she looked across the table at Jessi, a smirk spreading across her face.

As if deciding it wouldn't be in her best interest to tell Nicole what had been the topic of discussion just prior to her entering the dining room, Kyle noticed Jessi's questioning glance at Stephen and heard her thoughts.

_"Then what was the whole deal with Stephen and Nicole substituting tofu and spinach for sausage and hamburger in their lasagna?" _

Having had more experience with deciphering Stephen's analogies, Kyle smiled to himself at the conclusion Jessi had drawn, thinking it was cute how innocent his girlfriend was.

_"I might not always understand what Stephen is trying to say, but I'm hardly innocent Kyle," _he then heard in his head.

Not having intended to project that particular thought to her, Kyle didn't quite know how to respond to that, so he just stared down at his plate.

Meanwhile not suspecting that, during the long pause, Kyle and Jessi had been communicating telepathically with each other Nicole prodded for an answer.

"Jessi?" she said, as she passed the serving tongs along to Lori.

"I have no idea," Jessi muttered in a distracted manner, and detecting a slight annoyed tone in her voice, Kyle chanced a glance at her, hoping she wasn't upset with him for the errant thought he had inadvertently transmitted her way.

"See? What did I tell you?" Lori said, her gloating remark earning her a stern look from her father and a curious look from her mother.

Lori and Jessi had been getting along so well lately, what triggered her daughters relapse this time Nicole wondered? And what was with Jessi, who seemed to be reverting to her old habit of letting her remarks roll off her back? Hadn't she already learned that in some situations, such as with her often-times sarcastic and quick witted offspring, it was better to give as good as you get? Should she step in and offer some advice or simply let well enough alone? The psychologist side of her battling with her motherly side over whether she should intervene or not, Nicole quickly made the decision to let the two girls work out whatever problems they were having on their own.

"So how was your day today Josh?" she asked, her eyes darting to her son, who, as per usual, had been too busy feeding his endless pit of a stomach to be distracted by non essential conversation.

"Good," Josh answered briefly before stuffing another huge forkful of chicken into his mouth.

Feeling somewhat relieved that his mom had tactfully changed the subject Kyle smiled fondly at her. Nicole was always so perceptive and caring…in every sense of the word. He let his gaze flicker across the table as he scooped a couple of spoonfuls of zucchini onto his plate, wondering if his brother was aware that his mom often made a point to try to engage him in conversation between bites in an attempt to slow down his eating.

_I guess I'll never know as much about his family as Kyle does, _Kyle suddenly heard in his head and he winced at the huge sigh that followed the thought.

His smile fading, Kyle set the serving spoon back into the bowl and peaked over at Jessi, suspecting that this time around _he_ had been on the receiving end of what should have been a private introspection.

"What?" she asked when she noticed him looking at her.

Kyle could see the sadness in her eyes and his heart aching, he had to fight the urge to give Jessi a warm comforting hug, thinking it might be better to not let on that he had inadvertently picked up on her thoughts. "Nothing," he said, quickly turning his attention back to the food on his plate.

"Is something the matter Jessi?" Stephen asked quietly after catching her eye. "You look a bit upset."

"No." She shook her head. "I'm fine."

"Then can you pass the salt?" Stephen asked smiling pleasantly at her.

"You know with your borderline hypertension you really shouldn't use salt," Jessi suggested, flashing him a smile as she absently reached for the shaker Nicole kept on the table. Kyle noticed that his father looked a little taken aback by her comment.

"How did you know I was…," Stephen began and then he fell silent at the 'duh how do you think' expression on Jessi's face. Kyle was impressed. He'd listened to Stephen's heart rate on several occasions but hadn't monitored his blood pressure often enough to pick up on that fact about him.

"Don't even bother Jessi, not that it's that much better, but Stephen won't even listen to my suggestion to at least switch to sea salt." Nicole shook her head knowing from experience how useless it was to try to change her husbands eating habits, but thinking there still might be hope for her son, she shifted her gaze back to Josh.

"Josh," she said tilting her head a little. "Not to put you on the spot, but when I asked you how your day was, I was looking for a more detailed account."

As she was handing Stephen the salt, Jessi glanced over at Josh. "You might want to leave off the part where you were smokin' the herb with your friends," she offered jokingly, and although heartened that she seemed to have bounced back to her prior jovial mood, Kyle had a suspicion Jessi's attempt at humor wouldn't go over so well with his family.

And just as he had thought, her joke fell flat, as the memory of the time Josh's parents discovered that he had experimented with pot filled everyone's mind. Obviously still somewhat of a touchy subject Kyle chuckled anyway and after a few awkward moments of silence so did Nicole and Stephen. Kyle was glad when Jessi didn't pick up on the fact that his parent's laughter was more forced than usual.

Though he quite often never bothered, Josh waited until he had chewed and swallowed his mouthful before responding to his mom's request to give a more detailed account of what he had been up to that day. "My day started off just like any other school day," he said with a semi-disinterested shrug. "Seven am, woke up, freshened up, went downstairs, had my bowl…" He sent his gaze Jessi's way. "…of cereal that is." A mischievous glint flickered in his eyes as he looked down at his plate. "Gotta have cereal…" he added while stabbing another piece of chicken onto his fork.

Nicole smiled warmly. "You do love your Choco-Crunch."

Setting his fork down on his plate, Josh's feeding frenzy was put on hold as a serious look overcame his features. "After that I realized the time was a goin', tickin' on and on, everybody was rushin' and I had to get down to the bus stop to catch my bus…"

"Did you see your friends?" Lori asked her brother casually, her own forkful of vegetables suspended halfway between her plate and her mouth and at his response to her seemingly random question it looked to Kyle like she was trying to hold back a smile.

"Yep, saw my friends," Josh replied enthusiastically,

Kyle frowned, a little perplexed. He didn't remember seeing any of Josh's small group of friends on the bus that morning.

When after catching Josh's eye, Lori's smile momentarily broke through; both Kyle and Nicole watched her with a look of confusion narrowing their eyes. "Which seat did you take?" she asked Josh, feigning nonchalance.

"It was a really hard decision. I couldn't make up my mind," he replied and Lori covered her mouth to hide a short burst of laughter.

Nicole glanced back and forth from Lori to Josh, her look of confusion turning into a hesitant smile. Finally, she shook her head in what Kyle recognized as part resignation and part amusement before turning her attention back to her dinner.

"Kickin in the front, sittin' in the back…" Josh went on to say and then he smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand. "Oy, what a dilemma."

"We sat in the middle of the bus, just like we always do," Kyle offered, but besides a snicker from Lori, everyone pretty much ignored him. Was it some kind of an inside joke that he wasn't privy to he wondered? He turned to Jessi for help, with a questioning thought.

_"What's going on?" _

Jessi shrugged slightly as she busily twirled her pasta onto her fork. Although Kyle noticed that she didn't take a bite right away. She was too busy watching his siblings, a huge grin lighting up her hazel/green eyes.

"Wow Son," Stephen said, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he commented on Josh's blow by blow experience that morning. "What a tough life you lead."

Catching his sister's eye again, Josh grinned conspiratorially. "Yeah…well it's Friday. And you know what that means."

Lori opened her mouth to say something but Jessi cut her off. "Gotta get down on Friday," she asserted into the strange flow of dialogue taking place and both Josh and Lori shared a surprised look.

The first to recover, Josh replied, "Totally lookin' forward to the weekend."

The feeling that he was being left out of the loop continuing, Kyle watched Jessi closely, reveling at the way her mirth made her eyes twinkle. Even if he didn't know what was so funny he was happy to see her spirits lifted.

"You mean _everybody's_ looking forward to the weekend," she corrected and Josh rolled his eyes in the typical 'whatever' look.

"Partyin', partyin'…" Lori said.

"Yeah…Partyin' partying…" Josh agreed.

"Fun, fun, fun," Josh, Jessi and Lori said in unison.

Stephen looked at Lori sharply. "There will be no partying had by you." He glanced around the table. "Not any of you. Not tonight. Not tomorrow…"

"Which is Saturday by the way," Josh quickly interjected.

"And don't forget Sunday comes afterwards," Nicole added and as four sets of eyes looked at her in astonishment, Kyle sighed.

"We all excited or what?"

Not a lot of what everyone was saying making any sense to him, Kyle stopped trying to ponder it all too much, figuring as long as everyone was happy he was happy.

"We we we excited to the highest possible n…"

Although there was one thing still nagging at the back of his mind…

Kyle let the conversation around the dinner table fade into the background as his thoughts drifted back to Amanda and how worried he was that their friendship might be over.

Though he'd barely begun eating the delicious meal Nicole had prepared he put his fork down on his plate and picked up his glass of ice tea, his appetite waning as he remembered Amanda's reaction earlier that day at school after he reciprocated Jessi's ardent kiss. He'd seen her act similarly towards Jessi a few times in the past, but her anger had never been directed at him before. Kyle frowned as he sipped on his ice tea. The thought that he may have given Amanda reason to hate him made him feel awful but besides Jessi's and his recent public display of affection outside of Biology class he couldn't figure out what he had done to warrant her behavior towards him. Vowing that it wouldn't be one of those 'mysteries of life' Stephen had mentioned earlier that were unsolvable a determined look came over his face as he set his glass down.

Still feeling more than a little guilty for the way he'd broken the news to her, he couldn't help but think her recent change of attitude towards him had something to do with his relationship with Jessi. Although Amanda's initial reaction had seemed somewhat restrained, she had taken the news quite well considering his sudden blunt statement that it was time to move on with their lives must have taken her aback. Kyle cringed inwardly, remembering the shocked look on Amanda's face and how it had taken her a full minute to speak.

_I never intended to hurt Amanda by pursuing my hearts desire but…_

_"Kyle...why are you so upset...what's wrong?"  
><em>

His own thought bubble bursting in his head Kyle turned in his seat a little to gaze at the only person in the dining room who had the ability to send such an inquisitive string of telepathic words to him.

"_Nothing really…I was just thinking," _he transmitted rather vaguely back to her and hoping Jessi might leave it at that he shifted his attention back to the food in front of him.

"_About Amanda?"_

The message coming through with a keen sense of determination behind it, Kyle ate his dinner distractedly, tactfully taking a moment to decide how to go about relaying the fact that he was concerned about his ex girlfriend's state of mind without triggering jealousy and insecurity in his current girlfriend's mind. Swallowing the bite of chicken and pasta, he looked over at Nicole, stalling for time.

"Everything is delicious," he said catching her eye.

Nicole smiled. "Thank you Kyle," she replied and Kyle smiled back at her at the same time wondering if it might be a good idea to voice his recent concerns about Amanda out loud.

As if the way she seemed to be distancing herself from him wasn't enough cause for alarm, Kyle was sure he wasn't the only one to notice Amanda's recent change of appearance. She was styling her hair a different way from the way she usually did, wearing more makeup than normal and dressing more revealing...super low cut jeans exposing her bare midriff.

_And not to mention_…Kyle thought, a frown creasing his brow…_her thong_.

"Her thong? Really Kyle?"


	5. Chapter 5

**A.N.** I do not own Kyle XY or any of these characters.

Never Free To Be You And Me

Chapter 5

Kyle blinked a couple of times in an effort to clear the image of Amanda bending over at her locker out of his head. He set his fork down on his plate and turned to look at Jessi, feeling a little guilty though he didn't know why.

"You heard that?" he asked, thinking, though he hadn't meant her to, Jessi must have heard his thoughts. The frown on her face wasn't encouraging.

"And I saw it too. Can you say…Eww?"

"Yes," Kyle said matter of factly. "But why would I?" He knew it was the wrong response the second the words were out of his mouth.

"Maybe because the only one you should be picturing in a thong is me?"

Kyle hesitated before replying, trying to decide if he should be mad at Jessi for spying on his private thoughts. But he quickly realized he only had himself to blame. He could have avoided the whole situation if only he had voiced his worries about Amanda earlier, before dinner; his parents could have set his mind at ease. But instead, he'd put it off, and now his girlfriend was jealous.

Choosing to explain the...what might have mistakenly been interpreted as erotic...image she'd picked up on from his previous thoughts in a more private manner, he transmitted to Jessi telepathically,_ I wasn't picturing Amanda in a thong for the reasons you think. _"I don't even find girls in thongs sexy," he added out loud, hoping she would hear the sincerity behind his words.

"Okay, if I may? I'd like to add 'thongs' to the list of 'not proper dinner topics'."

The sound of his father's voice startled him a little even though it wasn't unexpected. Kyle could feel all eyes upon him around the dinner table but his main concern at the moment was the pair of hazel green eyes staring back at him.

"What is it?" Nicole asked, looking from one of them to the other. From the conversation going on between them she knew Jessi and Kyle had to have been secretly communicating telepathically with each other and she was a little upset at that, but she was more worried from Kyle's demeanor that there was something a lot deeper than just petty jealousy going on.

"It's nothing really," Kyle replied, more to Jessi than Nicole.

Josh grinned as he dropped his fork, which had been hovering half way to his mouth amid the drama unfolding. "Oh it's something alright," he said, his interest already piqued at the first mention of the word 'thong' and her tone dripping with annoyance Lori concurred.

"It's always something," she said, feeling frustrated. Jessi's unexpected outburst had interrupted her attempt to persuade her parents to let her go to an upcoming Mardi Gras theme party. She'd already had them hooked and had been on the brink of reeling them in.

"Jessi? Kyle?" Nicole offered, keeping her fingers crossed that the conflict between them was as simple as a lover's quarrel. "If you need to step away from the table for a bit…"

"Kyle's trying to hide it, but he's worried about Amanda..." Jessi suddenly blurted out, dashing Nicole's hopes, but giving Kyle hope that she understood…_although I don't know why since she's not your girlfriend anymore, _Jessi added for his benefit only, and Kyle sighed in disappointment.

"Kyle?" Nicole began a little hesitantly. "Is what Jessi's saying correct?" When Jessi turned in her seat to give her an offended look, a smile flickered across her lips though at the moment she was feeling far from happy. Her intuition was telling her that whatever the problem was, it had something to do with Latnok. "Let me rephrase that," she said, trying to hide the extent of her anxiousness. "Why would you be worried about Amanda Kyle?"

Kyle took a breath, unsure where to begin. He was about to speak when Jessi rolled her eyes impatiently.

"He thinks she's been acting weirder than normal lately and I agree."

Kyle didn't much care for Jessi's choice of words, but he had to admit the phrase 'weirder than normal' sure hit the nail on the head.

"You mean weirder even for Amanda?" Josh replied and although Stephen smiled in a bemused indulgent fashion at his son, he directed his question towards Jessi.

"What do you mean Jessi…what's so weird about the way Amanda's been acting?"

Jessi's brow immediately shot up. "Do you want the long version…or the short version?" she asked and still smiling Stephen didn't even bat an eye.

"I'm sure the short version will suffice."

Jessi nodded. "Alright. Then to put it simply, she's been avoiding people, and dressing totally freakish." Jessi looked away from Stephen, her eyes focusing directly on Kyle. "Although some people might like that kind of look, if you know Amanda, you know she's a goody two shoes. Dressing hellishly freaky is obviously not her norm."

"Jessi," Nicole began with a disapproving shake of her head. "'Freak' is a derogatory term. You shouldn't refer to one of your friends like that."

Jessi stared at Nicole, her look implying that she wouldn't necessarily call Amanda a friend of hers.

Kyle thought about what Jessi had just said. Although she had perhaps put it more crudely than he would have she was right in her assessment of his ex-girlfriends wardrobe preference. Amanda had always been a modest dresser...whether for her own personal standards or religious reasons...he had no idea what had brought about the change, but just a few short weeks ago, she would never have worn anything so...

"Sexy but bad ass is more like it," Josh offered in an almost appreciative tone. "Like Carmen Electra meets Lora Croft...I mean did you see that red and black leather jacket she was wearing yesterday at school?" He paused to whistle under his breath. "Niiiice. And as far as her acting differently, I'm not sure what her problem is. But she should totally keep rockin' that look cuz...she..." His words trailed off after noticing the curious, accusing look his sister was giving him. He raised a brow in puzzlement. "What?"

"Did you just say you think Amanda Bloom is..." Lori paused, a smirk hinting at her lips. "...sexy?"

"Hey...just because I've noticed that Amanda's changed her look recently, doesn't mean I'm attracted to her." Josh blushed profusely when the teasing expression on his sister's face stayed in place.

"Riiiight," she drawled and her brother sighed in exasperation.

"People change their look for many reasons," Nicole said coming to her son's rescue. "Perhaps something new is going on in her life...?"

"Maybe the 'something new' is her new boyfriend," Stephen said and immediately a blanket of silence fell upon the dinner table as all eyes turned towards Kyle.

Kyle squirmed a bit under everyone's watchful gaze, unsure how to react. On the one hand, even though they weren't a couple anymore, he still cared about Amanda enough to be interested in what was going on in her life. But at the same time, he was with Jessi now. Should it really matter to him who Amanda was dating, he asked himself? Even if the person she was dating was…

Kyle could barely think it, let alone say it…

"Nathaniel Harrison may have managed to persuade Amanda that he's not working for Latnok anymore, and that if he had known the whole story behind what they were actually doing, he would have never joined them, but just because she dated him a couple of times recently doesn't mean he's her boyfriend."

**A.N.** Okay...getting a little discouraged about the lack of people reviewing. Should I continue or what?


	6. Chapter 6

**A.N.** I do not own Kyle XY or any of these characters.

Never Free To Be You And Me

Chapter 6

"Dude, why are you getting so defensive?" Josh said chuckling softly.

_I'm not…Am I? _Kyle asked himself, and gazing at him over the top of her glass, Jessi rolled her eyes.

"Even if he's not her boyfriend..." she said after setting her glass back down on the dinner table, "...Amanda has a problem if she thinks Nate's being on the up and up with her."

"And I don't think he is being totally honest with her," Kyle said, concurring with her wholeheartedly. "I haven't found any solid evidence that he's lying yet, but there's plenty of evidence proving he's a jerk."

From the moment Lori's boyfriend Mark…on a mission to show him that he could fully trust him that he was on their side…had informed him that Nate had quit working for Latnok, Kyle had set out on his own mission to debunk both Nate's and Mark's claim that they were innocent of any wrongdoing on the grounds that they had been completely ignorant of the relevant facts pertaining to the rebuilding and purpose of the pods. Though he still wasn't quite convinced that Mark's decision to stay with Latnok was based purely on altruistic motives…to be their inside man, in charge of keeping a close and watchful eye on Cassidy and any and all 'modifications' he might be making to the pods…Kyle had a strong suspicion who Nate's loyalties were with from the start. And who they were still with.

"Kyle? You and Jessi aren't doing anything…illegal to try to obtain that proof, are you?" Nicole asked, her knife and fork poised over her plate and her eyes locked onto his.

Kyle shrugged noncommittally, thinking it might be better if his parents didn't know the full details of what Jessi and he had been up to recently in the spying department. "Not any more illegal than anything else we've done in the past," he replied with a soft smile to help soothe his mother's worries, although from the look she then gave both him and Jessi, he wasn't quite sure he succeeded.

Still smiling, Kyle caught Jessi's eye, the expression on her face telling him she had something to add, though, feigning interest in her plate of food, she wisely communicated her thoughts only to him.

"_And so far, even with the bug we planted in Nate's dorm room and the tracking device we attached to his car, Foss hasn't found any evidence to back up our intuitive theory that he's still working for Cassidy or your hypothesis that he's pretending to like Amanda so he can keep tabs on you."_

"_It's only a matter of time," _Kyle communicated telepathically back to her, not believing for one second that Nate would outright quit the organization. The tattoo on his wrist alone was evidence countering that. Just like a gang tattoo, it proved Nate had a deep affiliation with Latnok. Whatever the real reasons were behind his involvement with Amanda, Kyle was convinced that Nate wouldn't willingly give up his very cozy and profitable relationship with Latnok simply because he didn't agree with their end game. Although, from his obvious jealous hate for him, it was possible that Nate might not want to be an active participant in creating a batch of 781227 clones, Kyle thought it highly unlikely that a warehouse full of pods with his genetically enhanced DNA growing inside would be Nate's deciding factor. After all, he thought to himself humorlessly with a touch of irony, who doesn't like babies?

"Well," Nicole said raising a sardonic brow as she cut up the chicken breast on her plate with perhaps more force than was necessary, " I've never had the pleasure of meeting this young man face to face, but after everything I've heard about him I'd have to say I agree with you Jessi. Even if Nate's contrite and regretful attitude turns out to be genuine I really can't understand why Amanda would choose to be friends with someone like him, let alone date him."

Although Nicole knew perfectly well the reason behind why some girls always seem to choose the wrong guy, she also knew Amanda Bloom wasn't like that. Though forgiveness was in her nature, granting a guy complete amnesty for his transgressions against her was not.

Lori shook her head in total agreement with her mother. "Charlie was a jerk in a thousand different ways. But heck, Nate was _way_ more evil to Amanda than her first boyfriend ever was and yet she never gave Charlie a second chance." Taking in Kyle's darkening expression her eyes widened momentarily and she made a point to add, "Not that I'm saying Nate's Amanda's boyfriend."

Kyle looked down at his plate, trying to keep his anger in check as he remembered what Jessi had told him Nate had done when he caught Amanda snooping around his files. How he had physically attacked her in his dorm room…or at least he had tried. It was a good thing Amanda had recalled that deadly kick, which had been part of her martial arts training her dad had dragged her to when she was twelve. And it was a good thing for Nate that he had already been taken away by campus security when Jessi shared that bit of news with him after she arrived back home. His protective nature already stirred up by Cassidy's threats against his family, the fact that Jessi made that call to falsely report that Nate was on a drunken binge and had assaulted her was the only thing that had kept him from storming down there and kicking Nathaniel Harrison's ass that night.

"And you know what they say about leopards changing their spots," Stephen said, in perfect agreement with everyone that the guy was bad news.

"It's impossible," Kyle replied. Knowing Nate the way he did he wasn't the type of person who would easily recognize any wrongdoing. And as far as him regretting what he'd done and wanting to change? In his eyes he equated Nate with more of a chameleon, adapting to the environment to survive. After figuring out they were on to him it was clear to see he decided to change tactics.

Kyle clenched his jaw. But what wasn't clear was why he was dating Amanda again. Was it Cassidy's idea to spy on him or was it Nate's way of exacting revenge against him? According to Mark, Cassidy was still laid up in the hospital, but he wouldn't put it past him to be involved in it somehow. Just what were Cassidy and Nate up to, Kyle asked himself, hoping their plan wasn't to use Amanda in some way to get him to join Latnok. Because if Cassidy was making good on his threat, he didn't know what he was going to do.

"So what do you think Nate's ulterior motives are for dating Amanda?" Stephen asked, a frown deepening the creases in his forehead.

Kyle thought about it. His own personal opinion was that it was a combination of the two evils. Nate was still hell bent on getting even with him for snatching the hover board competition prize money out from under his nose. He was pretending to like Amanda in order to keep tabs on him for Cassidy, thus killing two birds with one stone. But as likely as those possibilities were, anything that involved Michael Cassidy, Nate and his ex-girlfriend would be pure speculation at this point.

Kyle looked at Stephen, unable to hide his worried expression. "It's hard to say the exact reason why Nate's manipulating a relationship with her."

"Wait, there's something I don't understand," Josh said. "If this guy is such a total scumbag, why is Amanda even bothering with him?" He tilted his head to the side, and before anyone could answer, offered an explanation of his own. "The old Amanda wouldn't even be giving him the time of day." He glanced across the table at Kyle. "You're right Kyle. Your ex-girlfriend's not acting like herself at all."

"Maybe the whole wardrobe change and her wanting to date the bad boy is Amanda's way of trying to change _her_ spots," Stephen suggested.

Nicole shook her head doubtfully. "I don't agree…," she began, but Jessi cut her off.

"I think Amanda's using Nate as her beard," Jessi said to no one in particular. "Can you pass the garlic bread Lori?" With her theory stated in her usual blunt fashion, the room fell silent for a long moment.

"Um Jessi?" Lori asked as she pushed the basket of bread closer to her. "Are you saying you think Amanda is…" She paused as if she couldn't bring herself to say what she was thinking. She turned to look at Josh, who had an expression of deep disbelief on his face.

"Naah," he finally said, after mulling over what Jessi had said. "I don't think so."

Stephen and Nicole shared an amused look across the table.

"I think she's just pretending to like Nate," Jessi explained after sensing everyone's confusion and in the middle of dishing out a second helping of vegetables onto his plate, Kyle looked at her with sudden surprise. "That night when we were in Nate's dorm room, she admitted to me that she wanted you back Kyle. What if she's dating Nate to make everyone think she's moved on?"

"Jessi," Kyle said gently, vaguely registering the look of enlightenment that came over his siblings, "we've already talked about this. I don't think that's the reason at all. Amanda's not like that."

"But you said it yourself. She's changed. She's acting more wild, and rebellious." A look of wonder came over Jessi's face. "And I can't believe I'm saying this, but trashy choices for underwear and her misguided notion that she has even the slightest chance to win you back aside, I actually like the newer version a little better."

Kyle's look of wonder matching that of his girlfriends, he took a moment to think about what she had said. He knew Amanda well enough to believe that it would never have occurred to her to do something like that. But currently she wasn't acting like the Amanda that he knew. Maybe Jessi was right after all and it was a simple matter of her wanting him back. Kyle frowned. Not that that would be a simple answer to the problem. But if he was determined to find an answer to the question 'why were Nate and Amanda dating again?' he couldn't completely disregard Jessi's theory.

"I guess you really like zucchini," Jessi said as she watched Kyle scooping out spoonfuls upon heaping spoonfuls of zucchini onto his plate.

"A little," he said distractedly.

"I think you do. A lot more than you're letting on," Jessi replied and the way she was looking at him made Kyle wonder if they were still talking about zucchini. Had she picked up on his confusion over Amanda's recent behavior and somehow mistaken his silence for absorbed interest? Didn't she know by now that she was the only one for him? He might be concerned about the choices Amanda was making but he would never regret the choice _he_ made.

Amused at the roundabout way Jessi was letting him know about her own misguided notion that he still harbored romantic feelings for Amanda Kyle said, "I like zucchini," while holding her gaze and...knowing very well a jealous Jessi was no laughing matter...trying not to let on that he thought it was cute. "But not as much as I like angel hair spaghetti."

Watching Jessi closely as he picked up the pasta tongs, Kyle couldn't help but smile at the impartial shrug she gave. Still smiling, he dished out a large second helping of spaghetti onto his plate hoping Jessi wouldn't take offense to him using pasta as a parallel to show how much he cared for her.

"Jessi?" Stephen asked as he eyed her plate of food. "After you dish out your vegetables, can you pass them this way?"

"Zucchini gives me heartburn," she said as she scooted the plate closer to Stephen without taking any.

As Kyle was struggling to keep a straight face, Nicole looked up from her plate, glancing with concern at Jessi. "I'm sorry Jessi. If I knew this kind of vegetable didn't agree with you, I would have made a salad instead."

"Technically, zucchini isn't really a vegetable," Jessi corrected her. "It's a fruit. In fact to be more precise, it's the swollen ovary of a female zucchini flower."

"Gross," Josh mumbled, now staring dubiously down at the remaining portion of zucchini on his plate. "We're eating some plants ovaries?"

As if realizing her slight faux pas, Jessi shot a slightly alarmed look over at Nicole before gazing with interest down at her plate. "Your Brushetta chicken and angel hair pasta are delicious Nicole."

Not seeming fazed in the least by her prior, less than tactful remark, Nicole beamed a smile at her. "Thank you Jessi. I got the recipe from the Rachel Ray show. Normally I'm a bit hesitant to try something new. But this one really isn't all that hard to make."

Jessi beamed back at her as Kyle squirmed in his seat. "The tanginess of the chicken really compliments the tomato sauce on the pasta," she expounded and the sly smile she flashed at him before she turned her attention back to Nicole didn't go unnoticed, nor did her foot, which was gently caressing his leg under the table.

Oblivious to what was going on right in front of him, Stephen glanced across the table at his wife. "Yes. They're perfect together," he said and Kyle let out his breath emitting a short involuntary gasp.

"_Yes we are, aren't we?" _

Kyle nearly choked on his mouthful of zucchini, but more from the teasing path his girlfriend's foot was currently taking under the table than from her telepathic response comparing him to a boneless grilled chicken breast. With the distraction, it totally went over his head.

Ignoring his napkin, Josh wiped his mouth on his sleeve after checking the time on his dad's watch. "It's almost seven," he said.

Kyle's eyes widened guiltily when he noticed his brother watching him expectantly. "What?"

"Josh wanted you to take a look at the circuit breaker," Lori said, reminding him of the promise he'd made before dinner, and noticing a slight flicker of electricity from the chandelier overhead, she glanced at him suspiciously.

"Oh…right," he replied quickly. "You need the power back on in your room for your skype date with Andy." Pushing his chair back from the table he stood up. "I'll get right on that."

Five sets of eyes watched Kyle as he hastily left the room, one particular set of hazel/green eyes alit with amusement. "I'll just...give Kyle a hand in the um...basement," Jessi said setting her fork gently down on her plate. "He might need my experience..." She flashed a smile at Nicole avoiding looking at Stephen. "...with the circuit breaker."

"I'm sure he can handle it by himself, but...don't take too long," Nicole said as she watched Jessi rise from her seat. "Your dinner will get cold."

"I won't," Jessi replied with a grin, before pushing her chair back under the table and heading for the basement.


	7. Chapter 7

**A.N.** I do not own Kyle XY or any of these characters.

Never Free To Be You And Me

Chapter 7

Jessi's POV…

As Jessi left the dinner table to assist Kyle in the basement with the electrical issues their earlier encounter in her bedroom just may have sparked, she couldn't help but smile as she glanced back over her shoulder.

_It seemed like déjà vu all over again with the flickering chandelier overhead…the result of my efforts to take Kyle's mind off of whatever the problem was going on with his ex-girlfriend…although this time around I was a bit more concerned with getting caught considering there were strict rules in place now that Kyle and I were officially a couple. Stephen may have been willing to turn a blind eye on occasion, but not Nicole. If Kyle's mom knew the teasing that had been going on between us literally right under her nose, let alone what we had been up to just minutes prior to calling us to dinner, as Kyle had once stated, 'we would be grounded until the sun burned out'._

Jessi sighed softly to herself as she headed down the hallway, taking a moment to glance back in her mind in order to see where she was going.

_Hindsight being twenty-twenty and all, lately I have found it helpful to look before I leap, especially when heading straight for my own blind spot within a blind spot so to speak…Kyle and I free from the watchful eye of his parents in the basement. _

Jessi stood with her hand on the doorknob, resisting the urge to fling the door open and bolt down the stairs she reflected upon her recent bout of immaturity at the dinner table. Having stirred up her hormones, and Kyle's libido as well, getting kinky with her boyfriend in the basement might have seemed tempting if she hadn't already sensed a certain resistance on Kyle's part. But his resistance was understandable and…any wariness he might have unintentionally displayed…forgivable. Jessi grinned ever so subtly as a feeling of calm contentment washed over her.

_Our passion for each other was incurable as was our unbreakable bond. We were linked, connected by our emotions as well as our thoughts. And not just in times of need and desperation. Even in ordinary circumstances, no matter how many miles separated our physical bodies we would find each other. Distance wasn't an obstacle if we needed to communicate. No borders, no boundaries held us back. Mentally evolved, our telepathic abilities kept us close even while the world around us was trying to pull us apart._

_For a long time, that type of deep spiritual connection with Kyle was all that I hoped for…That more than friends but not quite boyfriend/girlfriend situation that never seems to evolve into anything further. Any dreams that I may have had that one day Kyle would wake up and see me as 'the one' for him were simply that…dreams, a thought or hope of what could be. It was frustrating to be so close and yet so far away._

_Whereas our telepathic relationship had always been free from obstacles, there had always been one significant obstacle standing in the way of any future romantic plans I may have had. Kyle loved Amanda and Amanda loved Kyle, it was true, as painful as that was for me to admit. But what was even more painful for me to realize was that their love was the kind of forever love that I would never know._

_Or so I had thought before their devastating breakup. However it wasn't until the day Kyle put a stop to Cassidy's plans to restart Adam's cloning experiment that I began to think that my dreams had a potential to turn into a reality. Like the bacterial agent I helped to create, which compounded exponentially later that night when Kyle introduced it into the growth formula, my hope also grew exponentially when Kyle unexpectedly admitted to me that he had feelings for me. What happened directly afterwards was the kind of physical symbol of gratitude that sweet dreams are made of. _

_From then on, I made a point to show Kyle how much I cared and needed him in my life. As it might have done in the past… along with Nicole's disapproval of any romantic relationship with Kyle I might be thinking of pursuing…Amanda's announcement that she wanted Kyle back didn't deter me. No matter how many dishes of lasagna that girl might be thinking of bringing over they would end up in the same place as the first one did…the garbage bin. After all, it was only fitting that her feeble attempts to reconcile with Kyle would be given the same treatment as she had given his heart. Never in a million years would I have thrown away his love so lightly. The chance to be with Kyle…just the chance…I had wanted that so badly. And now that I finally had that chance?...I decided to use everything in my power to let Kyle know my feelings, even though, with the special connection we shared, I almost expected him to understand. _

_Having spent the better part of my lifetime relying on subtle hints that went unnoticed, my more direct approach to express what was in my mind and heart finally paid off during a trip with Kyle and his family to Disneyland. Still uncertain at the time whether the hope of getting back together with Amanda was what was holding him back; his decision to turn our deep friendship into something more came as a complete surprise. _

_"I didn't have to hold Jessi's hand because she was scared," he told his family matter of factly as we exited the Haunted Mansion ride. "We held each other's hand because…that's what couples do." _

_That simple yet telling statement, spoken nearly a month ago still brings a smile to my face as well as a tear to my eye. I am thankful every day that Kyle finally opened his eyes, though at times it's still hard for me to believe that we are a couple. My one true soul mate is in my life, the way I had only dreamed of in the past. All at once our love is real…something tangible we can hold on to…and now that I have it, I have no intentions of ever letting it go. _

_And my own personal dreams aren't the only ones coming true. Kyle's wish he voiced on the night he used the bacteria to thwart Cassidy's plan, for some sense of normalcy to return to his life seems to also be manifesting. Adam's growth formula, along with all records of his experiment, have been destroyed. Cassidy may still need to be contended with somewhere down the line, but for now he's been sidelined. _

_But what's up with Nate? Is he still working for Latnok or does he have his own personal agenda in mind? What are his true motives for dating Amanda this time? And on the subject of Amanda...what's the explanation behind her abnormally abnormal behavior? Is she using Nate to make Kyle think she's moved on? Does she secretly still want him back? Is she working together with Nate to exact some form of jealous revenge against Kyle and I or has the girl simply gone insane? And what about Cassidy? Is getting Kyle to work for Latnok still his main objective or does he have something else in store for him all together? Does he expect some sort of brotherly bonding thing to occur between them after revealing to him that Grace Kingsley is their mother? All these unanswered questions lead me to believe that Kyle and I are officially back to the only form of normalcy in our lives we have ever known…that of secrets and lies and not a whole lot of trust for the outside world._

_And as for the second part of Kyle's wish…to having some sort of constant in his life…the only thing constant in Kyle's life has ever been his family. Which leads me to another round of questions, the main one centering on the idea that now that I am a part of that family, does he consider me his constant too? The thought fills me with happiness…and I have to admit…a sense of trepidation. As with every family…at least with every family I have had the misfortune of dealing with in the past…things aren't always rosy and perfect. Living with the Trager's may have been a walk in the park to me before but now that Kyle and I are a couple?_

_Upon our return from vacation, needless to say my relationship with Kyle entered a more complicated phase. Special ground rules were put in place for us, rules that Nicole and Stephen deemed necessary in order for us to live together under their roof while romantically involved and still minors under the age of eighteen. And since Kyle and I had no immediate desire to leave the familiar warmth and comfort of his parent's home, we had agreed to abide by their rules._

_Along with the most expected rule, one that incidentally, would seem to hold no validity, seeing as both Lori and Josh had already broken it…and on numerous occasions I might add…limits were imposed upon us regarding the amount and level of intimate affection towards each other that would be acceptable. Basically meaning, all sexual activity…though it wouldn't be outright barred while living in the Trager's household…would be strictly monitored. _

_According to the behavior contract Nicole drew up when we were back on vacation not only was kissing a privilege and not to be over abused, but the level of passion was to be kept to the 'bare minimum'. Though I'm sure no pun had been intended Kyle and I shared a smile when we read that line together back in the hotel room. The whole contract had been a rather amusing read but at the same time had left us with a lot to think about. Besides the thirteen rules that spelled out precisely what wouldn't be tolerated and might just possibly lead to an unhappy ending, the eight additional rules pertaining to the use of our special abilities seemed particularly restricting. Not that we had planned on putting our abilities to use in that way. Of course I can't speak for Kyle but when I looked at him as he read that section of the contract, the expression that crossed over his face suggested to me that he didn't have a clue what Nicole was referring to in some circumstances, and those rules that he did get a clear picture of what his mother was implying had him blushing with embarrassment. Obviously he had never thought of using his special abilities like that before. Neither had I for the most part. Who knew Kyle's mom could be so creative in the romance department... _

In remembering and thinking how far their relationship had changed since the end of the last season, Jessi was reminded of how far she and Kyle still had to go, their physical abilities and how well they were able to adjust to the limits being imposed upon them the determining factor of when and where they would reach their final destination. Knowing they both had agreed to focus on each day as it happened; Jessi didn't hesitate any longer…though in reality it had only taken her twenty seconds…she finally opened the door leading down into the basement, happily deciding that, in order for Kyle to figure out the current problem and fix what was wrong, he might just need her at his side...

**A.N.** Jessi may have taken a round about way of coming to a decision, but I haven't yet decided if I will continue this story. If I do, I promise, there will be less introspection and more dialogue and action. If not, thanks for reading.


	8. Chapter 8

**A.N.** I do not own Kyle XY or any of these characters.

Never Free To Be You And Me

Chapter 8

Josh set his fork down on his plate and leaned back against his chair. Stuffed to the point of not wanting to move he didn't even bother to try to squelch a burp. Ignoring the look his mom was giving him he glanced towards the kitchen, deep in thought.

_I wonder if Andy's moms are tired of living in Cleveland yet…I sure hope they are…cuz then they might just move back to Seattle. That would be so totally awesome...I could see Andy every day…and talk to her any time I want… Not that we don't see each other nearly every day now…and text each other practically non stop…but at least then it would be in person and not just on the phone or online. I know we skyped for three hours last night, but I really can't wait to see her again…_

"What's taking Kyle and Jessi so long in the basement?" he asked, unable to curb his enthusiasm any longer. "Andy and I really need to get started on our homework."

Stephen's lips twitched into a smile as he looked up from cutting a piece of chicken on his plate, knowing very well Josh's impatience to have the power turned back on in his bedroom was more due to the fact that he was missing his girlfriend and wanted to talk to her on his computer in a more private setting…_not_ because he was chomping at the bit to do his homework.

"Your anticipation might be making it seem like it's taking a long time, but in reality it's only been a couple of minutes," he replied not even bothering to check his watch. He raised an amused brow at his wife while pointing his fork at his son. "I don't think I've ever seen him express this much enthusiasm for cracking the books before. And on a Friday night even. Maybe you should skype with Andy more often son."

Despite his anxious state of mind Josh grinned. "Yeah, well doing it with Andy is a lot more fun than doing it by myself. I know it's hard to believe but, I've totally been looking foreword to hooking up with her tonight…" A dreamy far away look came into his eyes. "…Doing it together makes it much more enjoyable for the both of us."

Hastily swallowing a mouthful of pasta, Lori lifted her napkin from her lap before turning to look at her brother. "You _are_ still talking about homework, right?" she asked with a casualness that belied the bemused expression forming on her face, a clear indication that she _was_ having a hard time believing it.

"Of course," Josh replied. "What else would I be talking about?" Taking in the full fledged smirk now plastered across his sister's face, though it was partially hidden behind her napkin, he stared at Lori in confusion, and then, immediately picking up on the suggestive jerking motion she was making with her other hand half under the table, he gave her a disgusted look. "Whoa Lori…Not cool. It's just an innocent homework related date. Andy and I are _not_ planning on having skype sex."

Stephen nearly choked on his mouthful of chicken. _Skype sex?_ How could Lori possibly have come up with that? Josh may be a horndog at times around his girlfriend, but no way would he be thinking of having skype sex with Andy_. _Not that he was even remotely sure what that would entail. Catching her eye, he cast an irritated glance Lori's way, knowing as usual his daughter was just being a smart alec. But still as much as he thought it was a simple matter of her poking fun at her brother, he couldn't help but to wonder if there was a possibility…even the slightest possibility…that she might just be right. _But no…I'm way off base here…Josh and Andy's relationship may have turned a drastic corner on Prom night, but that would be nasty and Andy is definitely not that kind of girl._

"Yes Lori. I can't even _begin_ to express how 'not cool' that was." An annoyed frown appeared on his face, although he was more mad at himself for allowing the seeds of doubt she successfully planted in his mind to germinate.

"And not to mention…_not_ a proper discussion during dinnertime." Nicole knew teasing was normal between siblings, especially when it came to older siblings teasing their younger siblings, but sometimes Lori went too far. Long distance was hard…though a little easier with technology on their side… but Josh and Andy would never take their relationship to _that_ level. _ After all, they're both only sixteen…they're still just kids…kids living in an adult world, I'll give them that. And as most kids these days, facing adult problems…with teenage angst… and trying desperately to stay connected and… oh my god I can't believe I'm even thinking that would be remotely possible. _Aiming a disapproving scowl at her daughter, Nicole wished she hadn't allowed Lori's suggestive notion to fester in her mind like that. Thinking she should learn to take her own advice and let what her daughter says roll off her back she added for good measure,"Or any other time for that matter."

"What?" Lori asked as she glanced back and forth from her mom to her dad, "I didn't even say anything." But her exaggerated innocence was an obvious tell, as was the smirk still lingering on her face. She seemed genuinely pleased with herself for having put the thought in her parent's heads. Whereas before, it would never have crossed their minds now they were both left wondering if she was simply trying to provoke her brother or if there was some truth behind the suggestive comment and crude innuendo she had made.

More aware at times than she wanted to be of how often the thought or mention of sex cropped up in her children's lives on a daily basis, Nicole absently stared down at her plate of food in front of her, unsure if what Lori had been implying might just be true or not. Was catching up on both of their daily lives and homework _all_ Josh and Andy did on one of their skype dates she began to wonder? Was that why Josh wanted to ensure he had privacy during their online session? An uneasy feeling settling into the pit of her stomach, she glanced across the table at her husband, who met her gaze with a questioning look of his own.

Shaking her head to clear the errant visual away her thoughts had prompted…thanks to her daughter's insinuating remark…Nicole promptly made an effort to nip any further elucidation as to what might soon be going on between her youngest son and his girlfriend in the bud by bringing the subject of discussion back to the electrical issues that might be currently going on in the basement with her other son and his girlfriend. Not that that situation was any less complicated she decided as the chandelier overhead gave a slight flicker and her intuitive sense started to tingle. But, as she had been doing quite a lot of late to keep peace within the family, she brushed away her incertitude. Or at least she made a strong attempt to do so.

Painting on a smile, Nicole distracted herself from wondering if and when either one of her son's would be engaging in sexual relations with their girlfriends by reaching for the pitcher of ice tea and filling her glass. "I thought Kyle and Jessi would be back by now. I guess what's wrong is more than a simple flick of a switch this time."

"When is what's wrong ever simple," Lori replied, however, realizing her behavior wasn't earning her any much needed brownie points with her parents; she tried her best to keep the annoyance out of her voice. She declined her mother's offer to top off her glass of ice tea with a forced smile and a gentle shake of her head.

She still didn't know whether or not she was allowed to go to the Mardi Gras theme party Hillary had invited her to. She had already brought up the subject once that night and had been on the verge of getting an answer from her parents when…after Jessi's obviously jealous proclamation about Amanda's thong…the subject of conversation had suddenly veered to Nate Harrison, which had then lead to Kyle's conspiracy theory concerning Cassidy and Latnok.

_Doesn't the conversation always circle back to Latnok,_ she asked herself? She glanced curiously at her mother when she heard her emit a soft sigh, which coincidentally emulated her current feelings.

Gazing over at Kyle and Jessi's half eaten plates of food, Nicole's brow knit with mild concern. She half debated sending Stephen downstairs to check up on them, but instantly thought better of it. She knew from the way they acted around her at times that Kyle and Jessi were aware she didn't fully trust that they were abiding by the new set of house rules she had imposed upon them both. She didn't want to make matters worse by doing or saying the wrong thing, but sometimes she wished Kyle had chosen Amanda instead of Jessi. _Life sure would be a whole lot easier, _she thought to herself and immediately a wave of guilt washed over her. Frowning, she pushed the thought away. She knew she would have to deal with the issue of the amount of sexuality that was going on in her children's lives eventually, but not tonight. "Well I hope they fix the problem soon. Their dinner's getting cold."

Following his wife's contemplative look, Stephen glanced to his immediate right; his focus landing on the large portion of zucchini still piled high on Kyle's plate. "Yes," he said trying, without success, not to smile. "They need to hurry up and finish whatever it is they have to do down in the basement before Kyle's swollen ovaries of a female zucchini flower start to congeal."

"Gross," Josh mumbled under his breath as he eyed the remaining uneaten portion of zucchini on his own plate distractedly. Lori's suggestive notion about what he might be doing with his girlfriend that night was still on his mind. Sure he missed Andy. In fact he missed her so much; sometimes he thought he might just go crazy. _But cyber sex? Really Lori? _He couldn't wait to tell Andy. In his mind he could picture her laughing.

"But a good one Dad," he added to cover up the smile that suddenly crept across his face.

Folding her napkin back in her lap, Lori was seething inwardly at her father's lame attempt to make a joke out of what had obviously been another one of Jessi's ill timed comments. She didn't need to be reminded of how her dad basically thought Jessi could do no wrong, especially when she was blatantly ignoring her parent's rules and practically molesting Kyle every chance she got. How could her mom and dad be so oblivious to the goings on in their own house, she wondered?

"That Jessi…she's such a jokester," Nicole said with a fond smile lighting up her face and despite the fact that she knew she should be trying to butter her parents up and not trying to stir up trouble, Lori rolled her eyes at her mother's next comment. "She can say things with such a straight face…it's really hard to tell when she's being serious and when she's teasing."

Lori…recalling how many times since Kyle and Jessi had come out as a couple that the breaker for Josh's room had 'mysteriously' tripped, as well as her more recent suspicions that Jessi had been up to something inappropriate with Kyle just prior to them heading off into the basement to fix the electrical problems…once again found the opportunity to voice her true thoughts on the matter too hard to resist.

"Yep," she replied, "that Jessi…she's a tease all right." Nonchalantly picking up her fork, she resumed eating her dinner; glad she had at least managed to keep the sarcasm out of her tone. Another few minutes of listening attentively to her parent's every word and taking the high road instead of responding in haste, and the party she wanted to go to might just be a possibility.

"Can I be excused?" Josh asked and abruptly standing up, he grabbed his plate and glass thinking that maybe his laptop had enough juice to keep it going during his date with Andy after all. "I need to go freshen up." _And if the electricity isn't back on, I can always light a few candles. Andy would appreciate the romantic-ness of scented candles. Not that she'd be able to smell them, but I would. And I remember the time she told me that lavender and citrus are much more soothingly aromatic than ode de sweaty tube socks. And if we're gonna be doing trigonometry, I definitely need some soothing…_

"Sure…" Nicole said looking up and finding him already headed towards the kitchen. Perplexed as to why Josh might need to 'freshen up' for a skype date, she shot a questioning look across the table at her husband.

Choosing not to delve too deep into his son's affairs at the moment, Stephen gave a noncommittal shrug. "I guess he wants to make himself more presentable for his girlfriend."

_Well in that case,_ Lori thought as she watched her brother all but bolting out of the room…this time deciding it might be wise to keep her comments to herself…_Kyle and Jessi can take all the time they need in the basement._

The start of a grin forming on her lips, Lori was remembering how much of a hurry the two of them had been to leave the table when the chandelier overhead suddenly flickered. _That's the second time it's done that in the last few minutes._ Her smug smile faded and a contemplative look crossed her features. Was fixing the electrical problems with the breaker box the only agenda Kyle and Jessi had in mind? Her eyes widened as she put two and two together and came up with a guesstimated answer based on what she would do with either Declan or Mark if they were in the same situation…living under her parents roof, their love life limited by a whole slew of rules. Maybe she would find it necessary to sneak off on occasion for a secret rendezvous to relieve certain needs, but…

_Seriously Kyle? In the basement?_

Reaching for her glass, Lori quickly took a swig of her ice tea, hoping the coldness of the drink would cool her speculative thoughts.

_Meanwhile…_

Deeply involved with planning his latest romantic endeavor with Andy…and maybe catching up on a bit of homework in between…Josh breezed by the open doorway in the kitchen. In a rush to change his shirt, comb his hair and make sure he had all his dirty clothes shoved under his bed he didn't pay any heed to the sounds drifting up from the basement.


	9. Chapter 9

**A.N.** I do not own Kyle XY or any of these characters.

Never Free To Be You And Me

Chapter 9

A few minutes earlier, Kyle and Jessi were in the basement.

"It's not working this time," Kyle's disappointed voice drifted up the stairway and into the kitchen.

"Did you push it all the way in and then pull it back again?"

"Yes...of course I did. I'm not an amateur. I _have_ done this before you know Jessi."

"Try it again," her reply came almost instantly.

"I already tried it about a dozen times," Kyle told her. A deep forlorn sigh followed. "I think it might be defective."

Sure there had always been the possibility this could happen to them, but even though they had never had this kind of problem occur during the numerous times in the past they'd experienced this particular type of scenario, Jessi wasn't really concerned at the moment. Maybe that was it, she thought...over the time she and Kyle had been together as a couple they had finally worn it out. She knew it was partially her fault, but the majority of the blame lay with their special abilities.

"What makes you think it's defective?" she asked curiously, suddenly thinking the whole situation was a little comical. She made a valiant effort to suppress the grin that was threatening to find purchase on her lips, doubting Kyle would view the situation in the same light.

"Mainly because of the way it keeps flopping," he answered seriously. He stepped back a little to show her what the problem was, even though she was not only fully aware of what the problem might be, but had already come up with a couple of solutions. "See what I mean?" He watched her closely for her reaction as he demonstrated the simple maneuver that had always worked to turn things on before.

"Here...let me try," she offered as she moved closer to him. "I'm not sure if I would say it's 'flopping'...More like it's 'flipping'," she remarked casually after giving it a cursory flip or two, doing a quick mental assessment and immediately coming up with a diagnosis...assuming it was overloaded, since it wouldn't return to it's normal position and it was hot to the touch.

She cringed a little when Kyle narrowed his eyes, knowing he wasn't doing it because there wasn't enough light to clearly see what she was doing and he needed to enhance his vision. The basement was dusty and it was definitely dank, but the large room, harshly lit with florescent lighting was far from dark.

"Flipping…flopping…does it really matter?" he asked and Jessi immediately raised a brow at the tone in his voice. Puzzled by his sudden change in demeanor she automatically went into a defensive mode.

"Yes," she replied flippantly. "Using the correct terminology matters for a lot of reasons."

In the dead silence that followed, that wasn't truly dead silence when two pod children are involved, Jessi tuned out the buzzing noise the lights were making overhead, as well as the sound of the air passing through the both of their noses. Ignoring the sound of a small rodent chewing on the insulation behind the walls she separated the beat of her heart from Kyle's and noticed that his was going at a slightly more rapid pace than her own in what she guessed, considering the circumstances, to be a combination of frustration and annoyance. Thinking her nonchalant attitude as well as her playful actions at the dinner table might just be a contributing factor to Kyle's current emotional state; she motioned towards the electrical panel they were standing in front of before amending her statement.

"But I guess not so much in this case."

Kyle held her gaze for a long moment. "I guess not," he said before turning his back to her to study the circuitry in the electrical panel more thoroughly, but Jessi knew from the acid smell of burnt plastic hanging in the air, if he was hoping for a quick fix he was out of luck.

Releasing a huff of air through her slightly parted lips her subdued look turned more contemplative. She was still feeling a little hurt that her boyfriend had basically ignored her at the dinner table when she had been trying to take his mind off of his troubles with his ex by giving him a taste of her teasing side. She was well aware that, unlike his brother Josh, Kyle didn't have sex on his mind all the time, and that it was more the fact that his parents and siblings were right there and not her suggestive comments and brazen exploring of her foot under the table that gave him cause to react like that, but he could have at least acknowledged her efforts with a little reciprocation before bolting from the room like it was on fire. She loved Kyle more than she'd ever loved anyone in her life, and understood he was trying to show his parents that their relationship could work while they were living together under their roof, and being responsible and acting like a gentleman was a big part of that. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but it tended to make her feel a little stifled at times.

And it wasn't that she was complaining, she told herself firmly. She was as happy as she'd ever been in her life. She really had no problem with the list of rules Nicole had made. Kissing and cuddling with Kyle, even on a limited basis, was more than enough as long as they could be together. The only issue she had with their current living situation...and she had a feeling that Kyle felt the same way too...was that when they did finally find the time and opportunity to give in to their teenage desires it was really hard to stay focused. As an unexpected bonus, the risk factor of getting caught while in the midst of pushing the limits of interpreting those rules somewhat added to the intensity for her, but being forced to always be aware of his parent's location in the household was such a distraction for Kyle that it sometimes ruined the mood for the both of them. Although that wasn't the issue that had arisen in her bedroom earlier that day. She smiled a little to herself and, remembering the amount of passion that had arisen between them as a result of all the kissing that had occurred, ran her tongue across her lips, recalling how, directly afterwards, they had felt slightly bruised and swollen. Kyle's had too, which was why neither of them had responded to Nicole's summons to set the table for dinner. Well that and other reasons, she decided, her eyes widening and her smile taking on a more sensual cast as she pictured his hands wandering over her naked skin...

"I really liked the time we spent together in my room today," she said finally finding her voice. She wasn't sure if now was the right time to ask but she needed to know. "How about you...did you enjoy it?"

"Yes...I did."

Did he really? she wondered after detecting a slight hesitancy in his tone, although he had answered her almost instantaneously. When Kyle turned to look at her she turned her smile on him, though it changed a little with her next line of thought.

Even though it was always in the back of both Kyle's and her mind that something like this could happen, she _had_ really enjoyed their little private escapade back in her room. And from the fireworks and sparks, that seemed to abound whenever they kissed, Jessi surmised that, as usual, Kyle had also enjoyed himself. The real question on her mind was did he have any regrets at all?

"Even though it got us in trouble with Stephen?" she asked paying no heed at all to the little voice in the back of her mind telling her not to pursue the subject and noticing his brow rising sardonically she braced herself for his answer.

"The proof that we both enjoyed ourselves is the fact that we're currently standing here in the basement in front of the electrical panel, desperately trying to flip the circuit breaker to Josh's room back on," he told her, and the almost annoyed way he had said it made Jessi feel a little guilty. Especially when she thought about how she had promised Kyle when she started kissing him that she wouldn't let things get too intense between them. Though she had fully intended to keep her word she hadn't wanted to stop, and their time alone ended as it had so often in the past...with a trip down to the basement to reset the circuit breaker to Josh's room...although which one that needed to be reset usually depended on where in the house they happened to be at the time. "And we didn't really get in trouble. Stephen was nice enough to let us off the hook and not tell Nicole..."

"That's true," she said solemnly to break the silence between them that followed. It seemed like Kyle wanted to say more and it worried her when he didn't. Wanting to entwine her fingers with his for reassurance she reached out her hand, but he turned away as if he hadn't noticed. She was left staring at the floor, confused by his rejection and wondering what she had done to upset him.

Roughly brushing a dust coated cobweb strand from the front of his sweat shirt Kyle walked purposely to the corner of the room where his father kept his tools. Ever since he and Jessi had become a couple, either one or both of them had been visiting the basement regularly. He frowned in mild annoyance, wondering why now? Of all the times that he had enjoyed kissing Jessi, why was this happening now? Usually the electrical problems that resulted from the large amount of static that built up from their bouts of uncontrollable passion only took a few minutes of his time, but not tonight. With all of his homework he still had to do, he was never going to find the time to do everything he had been planning that weekend now. Repairing the electrical issues they'd caused would take at least three or four hours of solid work. Hiring an electrician was out of the question. After fixing the damage Cassidy and he had done to the house and the spontaneous vacation his family had taken to Disneyland, his parent's bank accounts were depleted. Though he really had no time to spare, he would have to do the work himself. Deciding he better get started on it, he lifted the lid on Stephens tool box and began searching for the correct tools he would need to remove the panel.

"Simply resetting the circuit breaker obviously won't work this time," he said, thinking out loud. "It could just be a simple matter of replacing it. But if that doesn't work, that means there might be a more serious problem somewhere in the branch wiring. Either way, something is causing a fault between the two hot lines."

Standing with her arms crossed in front of the electrical panel Jessi let her gaze drift over to Kyle, who was currently bending over at the waist, peering into the top drawer of the portable tool box. She wanted to say something clever to make herself feel better, but knowing anything to do with faulty wiring could be potentially serious; she resisted the urge to jokingly mention the amazing pair of hot gluteus maximus muscles currently in her line of vision. She chewed on her bottom lip thoughtfully as she stared across the room at Kyle, wondering if he was mad that it wasn't going to be the quick fix that he had thought. She felt guilty about that, but only a little now after realizing the fault didn't lay entirely with her. She had always considered any collateral damage from making out with Kyle well worth the risk. But _had_ that particular bout of kissing caused the inconvenience this time?

"So you think the um…fault is our fault?" she asked Kyle as she considered the possibility that it could have just been a coincidence and that something else could have been the cause.

"The timing is about right," Kyle replied as he walked back her way, various tools in hand.

"Maybe Josh is the culprit," she offered jokingly after a short pause. "His computer could have overheated from too much Charlotte Cam live." Instead of smiling at her attempt to use a little humor to lighten the mood a serious and doubtful look came over Kyle's face.

"A surge of electricity through the power supply caused the fault. But I don't think that's the case," he said, obviously too distracted with taking the panel off to realize she had just been joking. "Clicking to visit a pornographic site couldn't cause that to happen. And besides, Josh rarely visits that web page any more."

_Well duh, _she thought to herself._ He spends almost every waking hour either talking on his phone or skyping with Andy. _Wondering if she should give another stab at humor and suggest to Kyle that one of Josh and Andy's lengthy long distance conversations could have caused the computer to overheat to the point of almost causing an electrical fire, she quickly put the metaphorical knife away. Fires were no laughing matter.

"Even if the problem turns out to be a defective circuit breaker," Kyle went on to explain, "I have a feeling it…popped…because of what we were doing earlier." Jessi met Kyle's eyes and saw a genuine look of concern mixed with guilt. "I think we caused one two many electrical surges. The circuit went bad from being tripped too many times."

So it _was_ their fault, Jessi thought to herself as she distractedly watched Kyle remove the panel covering the circuit breakers. Curious, she tried to pinpoint the exact moment it had happened. She remembered Kyle stopping by her room while Nicole was cooking dinner and Stephen, Josh and Lori were otherwise occupied with work, games and matters of the heart. After finding her cuddled on her bed with her teddy bear and a romance novel, they had exchanged light conversation about what they'd both done after school. Kyle had hesitantly sat on her bed watching her when she had grown tired of hearing about the game of basketball he'd played with Josh and gone back to reading her book. It wasn't until he began tickling her feet to get her attention that she realized he had a whole lot more in mind than just discussing how many hoop shots he intentionally missed so Josh wouldn't loose too badly and be mad at him.

Jessi frowned in remembrance. Obviously he hadn't been concerned about _her_ getting mad at him since he knew very well how ticklish she was. He'd been more amused than concerned that was for sure. She cringed a little inwardly remembering how she'd squirmed around on her bed and how frantically desperate she'd been to escape the tickling sensation on the bottom of her feet. But then she grinned remembering how she had thrown her paperback at him, along with her teddy bear and maybe a couple of pillows for good measure after he finally stopped tickling her and released the hold he had on her feet. It was unusual for her, but she couldn't quite recall all the details clearly. Probably because she had been so freaked out at the time. Darn that Kyle he really knew how to get to her, she thought with a little laugh. She did manage to get him back, but since it wasn't intentional it didn't really count.

Jessi watched Kyle as he bent over to lean the panel cover up against the nearby washing machine. As he stood back up he brushed his hair back from his forehead and her eyes lost their mirth as they narrowed in on his temple. She was a little distraught to notice that the small minor abrasion on his left temple from the corner of her paperback hitting him was still there. Even though it had almost completely faded on its own and was barely even noticeable she had meant to heal that before he left her room. But then they had both gotten distracted and she'd forgotten all about healing him as well as any ideas she may have had to get even with him for tickling her.

"Is something the matter?" Kyle asked when he noticed her staring at him.

"Yes...I mean no." Her mouth quirked. "Your forehead."

"What about it?" He self consciously reached a hand up.

"Don't worry. It's not a spider or anything." She smiled slowly.

"What? A spider?" He yelped as he frantically swiped at his hair and as she remembered the dream he had told her he'd had once about spiders, lots and lots of spiders tingling his skin as they crawled up his pants leg, Jessi couldn't help herself. She just had to laugh.


	10. Chapter 10

**A.N.** I do not own Kyle XY or any of these characters.

Never Free To Be You And Me

Chapter 10

The sound of dishes being set into the kitchen sink drifted down the basement stairway, followed by a lone set of footsteps passing by the open doorway. Kyle glanced across the room at the stairway briefly before squatting down to pick up the screwdriver he'd accidentally dropped on the basement floor while he was swiping at imaginary bugs he thought might be crawling in his hair.

"Kyle?"

Turning to look at her Kyle noticed that Jessi had moved closer and was standing a couple of feet away from him.

"I'm sorry...I'm really really sorry...Please don't be mad," she said, causing him to blink in surprise.

"What?" he said focusing on her, really focusing on her for the first time since she'd joined him in the room. Straightening, he shoved the screwdriver down into his back pocket. With the damaged circuit breaker, he still had a lot of tedious electrical work to contend with as well as tons of homework to do, but that didn't mean he didn't have time for his girlfriend. Especially when she was looking at him like that...her intense hazel/green eyes highlighted by her perfectly arched eyebrows and framed by her soft and silky hair. As black as night it reached well past her shoulders now. She'd let it grow out after Lori cut it, and though it wasn't as long as it was when he'd first laid eyes on her, he thought it was just as beautiful. _She_ was beautiful.

"I'm not mad."

"Really?" Unaware of the course his thoughts had taken Jessi crossed her arms and tilted her head to the side a little. "Because it seems like you are."

Trying to be honest with himself Kyle was quiet a moment as he considered what she was saying, quickly determining that maybe he was somewhat frustrated and annoyed with the whole electrical issues they'd caused, but he wasn't mad at all.

"Like I said...I'm not. And I would never lie to you Jessi." He knew there was a possibility that she might have read his heartbeat, which was currently racing like he'd just run a mile. "That's not the reason why my heart is beating at an abnormal rate," he clarified. If she _had_ read it he was a little hurt by her interpretation that his faster than normal pulse meant he wasn't being truthful, although she didn't often make assumptions like that.

"No." Her eyes moved across his features. "I didn't hear anything." She shrugged one shoulder dismissively and then took a step forward, moving even closer. "I wasn't even listening. I just remembered the nightmare you had." She offered him a small smile as she brought her hand up to his chest. "That's all."

"Nightmare?" he echoed in confusion. He was trying to be attentive to what Jessi was saying to him, but he was growing a little distracted by her nearness as well as her touch. He furrowed his brow when he felt her fingers sliding under the collar of his sweatshirt, a little concerned that she might be throwing him the 'sex me' vibe he'd heard Lori mention a number of times. Whether she was throwing it intentionally or not he didn't know, either way he was pretty sure now wasn't the appropriate time for him to catch it. He sighed. "I'm not sure which nightmare you're referring to Jessi." He purposely kept both his voice and his thoughts light, in order not to darken the mood in the room. "I've had quite a few of them lately."

"Oh," she said widening her eyes and pausing mid thought as if realizing how cryptic she was being. "The one you told me about when we were..." Her glance shifted suggestively from his eyes to the lower half of his body, lingering a little before finally coming to rest on his mouth. A wistful look flashed across her face but it was so fleeting he thought he might have imagined it. "...making out in my room earlier. The one about the spiders."

His gaze never leaving her face, Kyle licked his lips ever so subtly just once in anticipation as he watched Jessi expectantly, waiting for her to either continue with her explanation or plant a kiss on him. _The spiders? _he thought to himself when she didn't make a move towards him or say anything further and then…recalling the dream he'd had a few nights back…he gave an involuntary shudder, but more from the fact that whatever Jessi was doing under his shirt was giving him goosebumps.

"I...didn't mean to make you feel...uncomfortable," she stammered, blinking a few times as their gaze met.

"Jessi..." he began as he studied her curiously. She was so sweet...always so concerned with his feelings, even more so than her own. It worried him a bit. He'd often wondered if the reason she always felt the need to apologize to him was because she was afraid of upsetting him.

"I'm sorry..." she said, fluttering her eyelashes at him and smiling.

Kyle's breath caught in his throat, although he was heartened to see that this time her smile was less apologetic and more genuine...the most genuinely seductive smile he'd ever seen. Intentional or not, he was helplessly lost to her charms and he found himself smiling along with her.

"Why are you saying you're sorry? You didn't do anything wrong," he told her, a part of him wishing she would stop trying to analyze his emotions and simply start kissing him but the other part knowing it would be in their best interest to keep the conversation going seeing as his parents were just up the stairs and Jessi had left the basement door wide open. He didn't want to chance getting grounded, but she looked so darn adorable and her pouty lips were so tempting.

"I'm saying it to apologize," she replied, adopting a more serious tone and feeling a familiar tugging at his heart strings and a not so familiar tugging sensation around his neck, Kyle's curiosity was aroused so he broke his gaze momentarily to glance down at what she was doing.

Pulling the thin silver chain all the way out from under his sweatshirt, Jessi let the small crystal on the end rest in the palm of her hand. It was the same necklace Kyle had worn on the night of the chemistry party. The crystal changed color based on a person's pheromone output. Currently it was sporting a tinge of red, as was his face. Which was odd considering the temperature in the basement was only sixty-two degrees.

"I forgot I was wearing that," he said, an awkward grin spreading across his face. Even though they had been dating for a while they hadn't yet determined how to control their special abilities when their pheromones got the better of them. Though they had given it a valiant effort earlier that day by putting on their necklaces from the chemistry party, figuring they would see their crystals shifting to red and stop things from getting too overheated. Needless to say their plan had quickly fallen by the wayside.

"Most people apologize after they do or say something wrong," Jessi continued as if she hadn't heard his comment.

"So...why are you saying you're sorry?" he repeated, turning his grin back into a smile, however noticing a familiar look of guilty anticipation wash over Jessi's features his smile soon faded. "What did you do?"

"I know you shouldn't laugh at other people's expense," she said in a rush while twirling a section of his chain around one finger, suddenly unable or unwilling to meet his eyes. "But I couldn't help myself."

A little relieved that that was all it was, Kyle watched her as she continued to timidly toy with his necklace, letting the crystal dangle from its chain and sway back and forth as if she were a psychiatrist attempting to hypnotize him with the sparkling red light. He noticed it was brighter than it had been a few moments ago. He drew in a calming breath as he stared at the crystal, wondering if Jessi's DNA was affecting it now since she was the one holding it or if his own pheromones were still influencing it.

"So am I forgiven?"

Kyle blinked a few times, a little mesmerized by the swaying motion of his necklace. He was surprised, although he doubted he was part of the small percentage of people susceptible to being hypnotized. His brain was too highly developed.

"Kyle..." Jessi tugged on the chain a little, prodding him to respond.

Quickly mulling over Jessi's admission, he realized he might have mistakenly given her the impression that he had a phobia of spiders. Suddenly her apologetic attitude towards him made sense. She'd laughed at him during his slight freak out. And rather loudly too. More sensitive than your average joe and quick to forgive any transgression that his girlfriend and number one soulmate might have committed, he reached up and took her hand in his, lightly pressing the crystal in between their clasped palms.

"There's nothing to forgive. I'm not afraid of spiders..." One brow rose ever so slightly. Obviously she was remembering his reaction to the mere thought that he might have had a spider in his hair. "Although I don't really enjoy the thought of bugs crawling around on my person or clothing. And even if you were laughing at me instead of with me...it's okay...because you owed me one for when I pinned down your ankles and tickled your feet." Thinking it might not have been such a wise idea to bring that up again, he scrutinized her solemn expression until it cracked into a grin.

"You must have been confused, or it was a temporary moment of craziness, because you know how much I hate it when you do that. Not that it's a phobia or anything either," she added. After a quick glance at his temple her tone was a little less amused though the grin was still on her face. "I just don't like getting my feet tickled."

"Yes it was," he replied with what he hoped was the appropriate amount of mirth and contriteness. "A temporary moment of craziness that is. And again Jessi I'm sorry."

She squeezed his hand, letting him know all was right between them even though he'd already apologized profusely to her immediately after she had let him know he'd taken his tickling game a little too far. Kyle squeezed her hand in understanding, counting his blessings that she wasn't reading a hardcover book at the time. If she'd been reading one of Nicole's thick psychiatry books instead of that soft graphic romance novel about Thor and Sif she probably would have knocked him out cold. Enjoying the humor of it now that she'd forgiven him twice...and since she didn't currently have anything of very weighty substance to throw at him...he couldn't resist a little bit of friendly teasing.

"Just don't hold it against me and tell anyone about the source of my phobia, no matter how slight it might be, because if Latnok ever finds out that the thought of spiders crawling on me makes me weak in the knees, they might decide to use it against me somehow."

"I would never do that," Jessi said responding quickly, her tone emphatic.

"I know you wouldn't." His reply just as quick and no less emphatic.

Though it had been said in jest, the atmosphere between them changed with the mention of Latnok and neither of them were smiling. Looking away from him Jessi shifted the positioning of their hands. Loosening the hold she had on his she kept their fingers entwined and focused her gaze on the crystal lying in the center of her palm. Without even looking directly at it Kyle could tell that the necklace was reverting back to it's natural pure milky white state, which made him wonder where his girlfriends thoughts had gone to. He didn't have to wonder very long.

"I guess you're more like Superman, than you realize," she said breaking the short span of silence.

Kyle stared at her for a moment and then raised his brow before asking, "What do you mean?" Not that he wasn't familiar enough with the comic book superhero to make any speculations as to how they might share similarities. He simply sensed that Jessi was making a joke and didn't want to ruin her punchline.

"You believe in truth and justice." A smirk appeared on her face. "And Spiders are your kryptonite."

Kyle smiled, but before responding, he paused for a moment in thought. Jessi had been kidding about the spiders of course, but there was some truth in what she had said. He was far from a superhero save for his ongoing quest for restoring peace within his family, he would never relent in his search for normalcy in their lives, no matter what experiment the Latnok Society might choose to design and involve him with or to test another cruel hypothesis. How much of a 'good guy' he would continue to be depended on what length he was willing to go to accomplish those goals. He already knew what length Cassidy was willing to go. Kyle felt a shudder wrack his body at the thought of another showdown with his 'brother'. Evil and vindictive to the core, the man was no brother of his.

"Very funny," he said quickly, hoping she hadn't noticed his train of thought derailing. "So what's yours?"

"What's my what?" Jessi asked looking at him a bit oddly as she released his hand from hers.

Smiling at her, Kyle wiped his slightly sweat palm on the front of his pant leg before reaching up to tuck his necklace back under his shirt. "Your kryptonite."

"You mean what's the one thing that makes me go weak in the knees?" she asked. A deep throaty chuckle escaped her lips and she shifted her stance, wrapping her arms around his waist in a comfortable hug. Kyle reciprocated the motion as naturally as taking a breath. "Well besides the thought of being tickled mercilessly by a ruthless maniac dressed like a clown I think that's obvious."

"Um...Not really." How was any other weakness she might have obvious? Jessi was the most fearless person he knew. "Oh," he suddenly said in surprise after a moment of considering her words. "Wait are you...?" When she rolled her eyes at him he knew she'd figured out what he was going to say.

"No I'm not calling you a ruthless maniac Kyle." She flashed a smile at him. "And I actually like the way you dress."

Kyle breathed an exaggerated sigh of relief. "Well that's good to know."

"You asked me what my kryptonite was," she replied as he was gathering his thoughts. "I was only being honest."

Kyle knew that. He was just giving her a hard time. "And I'm glad being honest is high on your priority list." A look of stubborn resolution flickered behind her eyes so he let her off the hook with a teasing smile. "But you still didn't answer my question."

She wasn't amused. He felt her pulling away from him so he let her go.

"You're really going to make me say it?" she asked as her brow shot up and despite his own current fear that he may have just opened up a can of worms, Kyle couldn't help but be curious as to what she was hinting at. Jessi really had a fear he didn't know about?

"Of course not," he replied, remembering what Nicole had told him once, that everyone is afraid of something, even if they didn't want to admit it.

Jessi rolled her eyes. "As if you don't already know," she mumbled.

Kyle watched her silently, suddenly feeling a little anxious and uncomfortable.

"Fine," she said reluctantly. "It's you. You're the one who makes me weak in the knees."

"Really?" Kyle asked, unaware that he'd been holding his breath. He had a feeling she was using subterfuge to avoid telling him what she was really afraid of. Which was completely okay with him. "What do I do that makes you swoon?" He had to laugh at the idea of that.

"Okay now who's the one who's laughing at other people's expense?" And with that she grabbed his arm. "I guess I'll just have to show you," she said pulling him in close to her and pressing herself against his body.

Thinking a little innocent subterfuge might just be a good thing after all, Kyle leaned in to meet her lips. Just as they were close enough to kiss a voice coming from the top of the stairs stopped them.

"If that's what it takes to fix the electricity around here, then do I have a blown fuse for you!"


	11. Chapter 11

**A.N.** I do not own Kyle XY or any of these characters.

Never Free To Be You And Me

Chapter 11

_Like a little girl hopelessly lost inside a world of mystery and make believe. Who am I? What have I become without your love..._

As she stood at the top of the stairwell, taking in the scene currently happening down in the Trager's basement a familiar sense of deja vu washed over Amanda Bloom. Fully aware that Kyle and Jessi where on the verge of a passionate kiss...and from the looks of it, possibly a whole lot more...whereas before she would have quietly slunk away, now she didn't think twice about interrupting them.

"If that's what it takes to fix the electricity around here, then do I have a blown fuse for you!" she said making her presence known in the most uncomfortable way she could think of. A part of her didn't feel right saying the first thing that popped into her head like that but another part of her felt a certain sense of satisfaction that her choice of words had done what she had intended. Why should she respect their privacy? Kyle's and Jessi's relationship was a mistake, a whirlwind romance that wouldn't last.

Her pulse racing for all the wrong reasons Amanda could feel the anger welling up inside her but not wanting either of them to pick up on it she deliberately descended the basement stairs rather slowly, purposely using the twelve steps to give herself time to quell her pounding heart. Or at least she would do her best to calm herself down. Nicole had told her Kyle and Jessi were busy in the basement...she was quite sure Kyle's mom, though not near as morally righteous as her own mom, had no clue whatsoever and wouldn't approve of what was really going on between them..._'busy in the basement'...yeah right, more like 'getting busy' in the basement._

Pausing somewhat dramatically a few steps down, Amanda's hand gripped the railing tightly. Unconsciously clenching her teeth together, just the idea of something along those lines happening triggered pangs of jealousy inside her and stirred up her own sense of moral outrage as well. She glanced across the room at Kyle who was looking at her as if he'd never seen her before. She knew he was aware that she had been going through some changes recently, but as drastic as those changes seemed to be, she hadn't lost her faith or doubted what she believed.

Although disillusionment wasn't totally unfamiliar to her.

Taking a deep cleansing breath she continued her descent, a sardonic, knowing smile now turning up one corner of her mouth. Though her eyes were focused upon Jessi, who was currently eying her with mild annoyance, her jumbled, chaotic thoughts were all centered around Kyle.

And why wouldn't they be...after all, it was he who betrayed her...he who brought down the ax when she laid her feelings out on the chopping block...he who had rejected her offer so callously all those weeks ago...

Putting her pride aside, on the night before Kyle and his family had left for Disneyland, she had admitted to him that their breakup had been a huge mistake on her part and that she would be willing to do just about anything to get back together with him. She hadn't meant to sound so desperate at the time, but she couldn't help herself, she still loved him. And in her heart and mind she knew Kyle still loved her and no matter what sort of obstacles they might possibly encounter they were destined to be together.

He hadn't made any promises, but the cheerful smile on her ex boyfriend's face, as well as the oh so familiar endearing way he'd kissed her goodnight, had been enough to give her hope. Hope that sometime during his journeys he would finally make the right choice, and that when he returned from the 'happiest place on earth' he would once again say those three little words to her that would make her the happiest girl in Seattle. _I love..._

"Is this her lame rendition of Scarlet O'Hara?" Jessi muttered quietly, and though her mind was still in turmoil, Amanda narrowed her eyes, letting them both know it obviously hadn't been quiet enough. She'd heard it, even over the loud squeak that had unexpectedly come from the ninth step on the wooden stairway, which meant Jessi had intended her to hear it.

Storing that fact someplace, Amanda quickly focused on Kyle's face trying to interpret his expression. He dropped the arm he still had loosely draped around Jessi's waist and gave her the sharpest look he was capable of at the moment considering that mere seconds ago he had been on the brink of kissing her...which she immediately reciprocated with stifled amusement. Amanda watched Jessi as she smirked at her boyfriend._ Yes.._.he's _her_ boyfriend now, she reminded herself unnecessarily. _Totally ignoring my plea for his love, Kyle chose her...over me._ A little embarrassed now she continued to descend the basement stairs in a deliberate slow and even pace despite Jessi's rude comment,

"Who's Scarlet O'Hara?" she heard Kyle whisper to Jessi the moment the heel of her boots hit the hard concrete floor. "Does she go to our school?"

"I'll tell you later..." Jessi replied turning her attention from Kyle to her as she approached them.

Still recovering from her painful jaunt down memory lane, Amanda re focused her gaze in on the girl, who sometime during a three day vacation to Mickey Mouse land had managed to steal her boyfriend's heart away from her. She let her eyes roam over her freely as she stood arms crossed with a very confident and determined look on her face. Amanda remembered seeing that same expression numerous times in the past, one occasion in particular being the night she had, out of a sense of fairness, given Jessi fair warning that she wanted Kyle back. Feeling more envy than anger now the sudden realization surprised her a little. Jessi seemed to like to play the down trodden teenager, but in the end she always got what she wanted. Amanda continued to study her with a casualness that belied her true feelings. She was feeling anything but casual at the moment.

Jessi's brow rose when she caught her eye. "Why did you come down here? What do you want Amanda?"

Amanda's leather boots made one last echoing click as she came to an abrupt halt. She stood in front of Kyle and Jessi, feeling totally out of place in the room...and in their world in general now. Why _had_ she even bothered coming here she asked herself?

_Espionage is a beautiful thing..._

The strange butterfly feeling occurring in her stomach instantly jarred her memory, and as she remembered why she was there a well practiced tantalizing smile spread across her face.

"Oh fiddle dee dee," she said doing her best Scarlett O'Hara impersonation seeing as she _was_ actually presently feeling every bit the jilted girlfriend. "For the life of me, I cannot remember." Fanning herself with an imaginary fan, she turned her flirtatious smile on Kyle, wondering if he knew just how far she was willing to go to win his love back. From the bewildered and confused way he was looking at her, somehow she thought not.

"Amanda...are you okay?" he asked, of course not catching on to what she thought was a pretty clever comeback.

Putting down her 'fan' Amanda rolled her eyes at him. There had been moments in the past when she'd thought his cluelessness was too cute. This was definitely not one of them. Yet another blush of embarrassment washed over her. Or was it embarrassment? Her face did feel flushed.

_Espionage is a necessary tool..._

Matching Jessi's stance, she crossed her arms, a confident look coming over her features even though her mouth had suddenly become dry and her palms had started to sweat.

"Yet another reason to not put off watching _Gone with the Wind_ any longer. Wouldn't you agree?" she asked Jessi.

"Gone with the Wind _is_ an American classic," she replied in a surprisingly agreeable tone.

Amanda shrugged, not letting her guard down in the least. Her strange urge to pay a visit next door after conversing with Nate on the phone had interrupted their tryst. Despite not coming right out and saying so like she normally would do, it was apparent to her that Jessi would like nothing more than to have her gone in sixty seconds...or less. Perhaps she'd indulge her…just this once. Besides, she didn't feel right about being there. Something just felt…wrong.

_Espionage can't be stopped…_

"But like most boys..." she began in a distracted yet matter of fact way, managing to keep her voice calm as her pulse raced wildly. She briefly glanced over Kyle's shoulder towards the back part of the basement that was unfinished and separated by a four foot wall constructed of cinder blocks and concrete. She'd never been in the Trager's basement before and hadn't realized theirs was different than the one in her house. "...Kyle would probably rather watch Angelina Jolie than Olivia de Havilland." She looked up to the right of her towards the ceiling, noting that the window had a lock release on it and was large enough for an average sized person to fit through.

"Kyle's not like most boys," Jessi said and despite her growing unease with the situation Amanda almost felt compelled to smile. Well duh Jessi...state the obvious much?

She glanced back at Kyle, wondering why he was being so quiet. And then she knew.

"Amanda...Your heart rate is accelerating at an unhealthy rate. Did you take something?"

More than a little thrown off track Amanda felt a mix of concern and annoyance. "Did I take something?" she clipped in a dry tone. "Do you mean drugs?" Dropping her arms to her side, she wiped her sweaty right palm across the seat of her low cut jeans, her hand coming into contact with what felt like a thick metal handle sticking out of her back pocket in the process. "You really don't know me at all...do you Kyle?"

_Espionage can lead to powerful lies._..

He'd told her he loved her once, she thought with a frown. She already knew what boys really wanted when they said 'I love you'. At least what_ most_ boys wanted.

"Kyle's not like most boys," she said, as her fingers wrapped tightly around the handle. Where had she heard that before she wondered as she tried to fight the urge...but it was too strong. She could feel the cold metal on her hip as it slid up and out of her back pocket. And then all she felt was pain.


	12. Chapter 12

**A.N.** I do not own Kyle XY or any of these characters.

Never Free To Be You And Me

Chapter 12

"I can't believe you assaulted Amanda."

Jessi let out an irritated huff at the accusatory tone in Kyle's voice. He, as well as Stephen and Nicole were gathered around Amanda's body as she lay unconscious on the basement floor. She crossed her arms in a defensive gesture as she leaned back against the cold and clammy basement wall a few feet away from them. She knew everyone was mad at her, but it wasn't really her fault.

"I didn't assault her. I was protecting you from bodily harm. Amanda was obviously upset about something. She came down here acting all kinds of crazy and..."

"And I didn't need your protection. I agree with you that she seemed upset, and maybe a bit anxious, but she wasn't acting crazy," Kyle interjected with a frown aimed her way and then he quickly turned his attention back to Amanda as he knelt by her side.

"You basically accused her of being under the influence of drugs," Jessi proclaimed, as she watched him strip his sweatshirt off, fold it over and place it gently under Amanda's head. She didn't understand why he was acting the way he was. "And then when she drew out that pipe wrench…"

"You mean the one I let Carol borrow last week?" Stephen asked, looking her way.

"Yes," Kyle replied before she could say anything. "That one." Glancing over his shoulder at Jessi he frowned again.

This time Jessi frowned right back at him not liking in the least that he was doubting her. "I don't know why you don't believe me, but I swear…there was this certain gleam in her eye right before she lunged at you…" She paused when Nicole looked up from stroking Amanda's hair, though it was apparent from the vast amount of disappointment mixed with concern on her face that she didn't believe her either. "…And did I mention she was acting crazy?" she added, her explanation beginning to sound lame even to her own ears.

"I believe you Jessi," Lori said as she came down the stairs carrying a bag of frozen peas in her hand.

"Really?" Jessi asked in surprise. Lori was the last person she thought would take her side.

"Of course. It's obvious from her peculiar behavior that Amanda's going through some kind of mental breakdown," she replied and her eyes widening hopefully, Jessi pushed herself off the wall impatiently as she waited for her to go on, and after handing her mom the bag of peas Lori continued. "Kyle was the guy who rejected her." She shrugged. "And you know what they say about a woman scorned."

Jessi nodded. "That's exactly what I thought when I saw the weapon in her hand and the confused and bitter way she was looking at Kyle. These days you can never be too careful. Latnok could be involved somehow."

Kyle glowered at her. "But its Amanda," he said. "You should have given her the benefit of the doubt."

"I should also let Stephen win at Scrabble sometime," Jessi quipped, feeling a tad more confident with the situation now that Lori was on her side. "That doesn't mean it's going to happen."

"Jessi…" Stephen began with a sigh and a shake of his head, "You can't compare…"

"Stephen," Nicole interrupted him, pulling the bag of peas away from Amanda's swollen right eye. "I think she's coming to."

"Amanda?" Kyle said, patting her hand. "Amanda can you hear me?"

"She's still out," Stephen concluded when after a few long moments Amanda didn't stir.

"At least her heart rate seems to be returning back to normal," Kyle said, stroking her arm…or more like caressing her arm, Jessi thought to herself. She stiffened, though she was well aware there was nothing behind the action but concern on Kyle's part. Instantly feeling ashamed of her own petty jealousy she threw it off and focused her thoughts back on the crisis at hand. Crossing the room she stood next to Lori.

"Her pulse was really racing before," she said wondering if Amanda had been lying to Kyle about taking something. She offered a suggestion, thinking maybe the effects of whatever she had in her system was the reason she was still unconscious. "Maybe we should pump her stomach."

"I think what we should do," Nicole said standing up quickly, "is bring her upstairs and make her more comfortable until she regains consciousness."

"What about calling the paramedics…or her mother?" Stephen asked, his concern growing by the second. "Maybe we shouldn't attempt to move her…"

Nicole shook her head. "She'll be okay. Her eye isn't all that swollen." She shot Jessi a look. "And Kyle was able to catch her before her head hit the concrete."

Jessi didn't appreciate the suspicious look Nicole was giving her. It hurt that after everything she'd been through with her family she still didn't fully trust her. "I knew I didn't need to use all my strength on her," she said before she could stop herself. She raised a brow. "One light punch was all it took to knock her out cold."

Everyone was quiet as they let Jessi's words sink in. Stephen was the first to break the uncomfortable silence. "So how do we get her upstairs," he asked scratching his head in wonderment.

"I'll carry her," Jessi offered, remembering the last time she'd carried Amanda's unconscious form after she helped Kyle rescue her from Latnok.

"No…I'll do it," Kyle said and immediately cradling Amanda gently in his arms he easily lifted her up and carried her towards the stairs his pectoral muscles barely straining with the effort.

Jessi watched a bit guiltily as Kyle walked up the stairs with Amanda, her head resting on his bare chest as if she were sleeping. After a moment the rest of his family followed, Nicole fretting about which bed to put her on and Stephen bravely deciding to be the one to call Mrs. Bloom. Lori started up the stairs and then stopped and turned back around when she noticed Jessi wasn't trailing behind her.

"Are you coming?" she asked.

Shaking herself out of her stupor, Jessi gave an uncomfortable chuckle. "Maybe we should consider calling an ambulance after all."

"Well she's no Florence Nightingale, but Mom didn't seem to think Amanda needed one."

"Not for Amanda," Jessi quickly explained.

"Then for who…?"

Jessi gave a sheepish grin. "You know…for Mrs. Bloom when she finds out I accidentally knocked her daughter unconscious when I was wrestling a pipe wrench from her grasp."

Lori frowned, seeming perplexed. "But I thought you said..."

Jessi shrugged. "I knocked Amanda out. It doesn't seem to matter to anyone how it really happened."

"Oh..." When Lori's eye's suddenly widened with concern Jessi knew she was picturing what Carol Bloom's reaction would be when Stephen told her the news about Amanda. "Amanda's mom is so going to have a freak out."

Jessi swallowed the lump forming in her throat. "Of epic proportions," she added and when Lori cringed and nodded in agreement she slowly walked towards the stairs, thinking if Kyle wasn't going to back up her story and tell everyone what really happened she was so totally screwed.


	13. Chapter 13

**A.N.** I do not own Kyle XY or any of these characters.

Never Free To Be You And Me

Chapter 13

_Amanda was in way over her head, the waves crashing one right after another in a typical pre-storm fashion knocking her off her feet and dragging her further out to the deep water. In the dark recesses of her mind, a vague idea was lurking, telling her it wasn't safe for her to be there and that she should probably try to return to more normal drier ground. Unfortunately at the moment, thanks to the evil hand of Michael Cassidy and his handy dandy CIR machine, she was having a little trouble determining what was normal and what was not..._

Hovering somewhere in between la-la-land and crazy town Amanda had neither the lucidity nor mental soundness to realize her current surroundings. For if she was lucid enough to realize where she truly was...wrapped in Kyle's strong arms, her cheek pressed against his warm bare chest as he carried her up the stairs...she might just have found the brain power to open her eyes, and not for the reasons one might think. No stranger to the rescue scene and being whisked away from impending danger by the handsome hero, after her recent behavior down in the Trager's basement it was still all very questionable who might actually be in need of saving once she regained consciousness.

What was also questionable was whether she even had the desire to awaken. For as dreams often do, presently everything she was experiencing seemed very realistic to her, and as the dreamer often feels when they are dreaming, Amanda didn't really think any of these things that were happening to and around her were very odd at all. Not even when, what seemed like just moments ago...while dreaming that she was on vacation somewhere along the coast of Southern California...after casually stepping over the unconscious body of some unknown girl dressed as a princess who Amanda just intuitively knew was passed out in a drunken stupor, she stopped with her new friend at poolside for a mutual hug. What also hadn't seemed odd to her in any way was that she'd just had a non-verbal telepathic conversation with the both of them only milliseconds before that, the subject of which being how Amanda had recently caught the eye of a certain popular boy from back home and had been given the option of either meeting up with said boy at a party or staying with her new friend.

What _had _seemed more than a bit odd to her however was the unexpected feelings of butterflies somewhere in the vicinity of her lower abdomen that the rather long and drawn out embrace between her and her new friend had left her with. Even in her current dream state, Amanda was aware that she only normally got these forbidden sensual feelings whenever she was thinking about or near the boy from back home…which was why it was a little disconcerting to her that her body had responded so strongly to the touch of a virtual stranger…albeit a particularly attractive stranger, but a stranger nonetheless.

When she broke the comfortable yet very erotic hug between her and her new friend and they continued on their way with no real destination in mind; Amanda became so caught up in the dilemma of who she would choose to be with that she wasn't aware of the point at which they had both entered the swimming pool. Along with the heavy guilt lurking in her subconscious for even considering not going to the party, her logic kicked in, suggesting to her that maybe it wouldn't be prudent to choose her new friend over the boy from back home. The main reason being that she was a girl, just like her, and even though Amanda didn't personally think it would be unnatural to hook up with someone of the same gender, she had a strong suspicion that her mother wouldn't approve.

The more immediate matter of embarrassment suddenly taking precedence over any fear she might be feeling of being a target of her mother's wrath the only conclusion she could reach was that if they were going to be swimming, they really needed to change into their bathing suits. Seeing as they were already in the water, the thought drifted away from her and the two of them made their way across the pool still dressed in their street clothes. Although she was sure the crowds of faceless people swimming in the pool along with them were gawking as they passed by it wasn't clear to Amanda whether the bad vibes she was getting from them was because of the social faux pas they were committing by not wearing the proper swimming attire or because they had just witnessed their not so innocent embrace.

As a sudden desire to get away from the judgmental stares of strangers came over her, the crowds of people swam towards each other and manifested into a pool-sized slab of lasagna smothered in scaldingly hot cheese. Turning her back on the less than delightful dish, Amanda averted her attention to the huge waves that were breaking close by as she continued to tread water in what she had thought, only moments before, had been the deep end of a nine-foot luxurious hotel swimming pool. Not quite grasping the unusual aspects of her dream, she did however note one rather distressing detail. The waves were not only growing increasingly stronger and coming faster, but they were also carrying along with them a strange hodgepodge of various items. No one but her was aware of that fact or the danger they were in, including her new friend, who seemed familiarly clueless and fearless all at the same time for reasons she couldn't quite put her finger on and frankly she didn't want to.

Busy fighting to keep her head above the water, Amanda knew she had to be a lot more assertive than merely going with the flow otherwise one of the larger articles of debris caught in the curl of the waves was going to knock her unconscious and the current was going to pull her down under. However, she was more scared for her friend's safety than for her own. She knew she had to do something fast, but even knowing that, she couldn't seem to budge from her location or even form words to warn her friend of the danger they were in.

Feeling the frustration of being struck mute with a mysterious rip tide holding her in place Amanda watched helplessly as a large and ominous looking object appeared on the horizon. It bobbed and teetered on the edge of the water and as it drew nearer she squinted her eyes to better recognize it for what it was. A unexplainable pain shooting across her eyes...her right eye more so than her left...she watched as a massive wave pushed the white van down under the surface. It quickly popped back up again, the back doors swinging open and a stretcher flying out like a torpedo. It passed by her so close she felt a rush of air through her hair as it whizzed by her ear. Knowing it had narrowly missed hitting her, she wanted to escape more than anything at that moment, but the thought crossed her mind that it still wasn't safe for her to do so. The black van itself was not only still coming her way but it was heading straight for her new friend. Without preamble, Amanda reached out for her hand. Deftly intertwining her right pinky with her friend's left one she looked to the left of her and saw an opportune moment coming up. Grabbing onto the edge of a bathtub as it floated by she pushed it into the crest of a passing wave and together they rode it for quite a distance...

_Meanwhile back in the real world..._

"I said to take her to Jessi's room Kyle not yours. I don't think Amanda would be very comfortable waking up in your bathtub."

"Oh...right. Sorry Nicole. I wasn't thinking straight."

"It seems like there's a lot of that going on around here tonight," Nicole grumbled to no one in particular as she walked back towards the basement door to call down instructions to Lori. "Lori hurry up, I need you to get that light cotton blanket from the linen closet upstairs."

"Hold on Mom," Lori yelled up from the basement. "I'll be right there..."

Still hovering in Kyle's doorway Stephen scanned the top of the desk where his son normally charged his cell phone and then quickly rushed to catch up with Kyle. "Kyle do you have your cell phone with you? I didn't see it in your room."

"I think I left it in here when Jessi and I were...studying together earlier," Kyle answered in a rush as he entered Jessi's room with an unconscious Amanda still in his arms. "Why? Do you need to use it?"

"That depends," Stephen replied as he followed Kyle into Jessi's room. Jogging a little to get ahead of him he grabbed Jessi's white teddy bear off of the bed since Kyle had his hands full. Setting the bear down on the nightstand he quickly rearranged the pillows so Kyle could lie Amanda down flat on the bed. "Do you still have Amanda's home phone on your contact list or did you delete it?"

"Yes I still have it. It's number five on speed dial. Why would I delete it?"

"Um...no reason." Stephen gazed at Amanda with concern, knowing now wasn't the appropriate time to explain to Kyle why a guy might want to delete an old girlfriends home phone number from his speed dial list when he was in a new relationship. He glanced around the room for the phone while Kyle carefully lay Amanda down on the bed. "Here it is," he said spotting it on the dresser. He frowned, not really looking forward to calling Carol Bloom. Taking in the worried look on his son's face as he looked down at his ex-girlfriends unconscious form his expression softened.

"How's she doing?" he asked and Kyle's lips tightened in a grim line. Reaching down, he lightly caressed Amanda's arm as he watched her face for signs of awakening. He started to speak and then stopped. Looking up, he met Stephens eyes.

"It shouldn't be taking her this long to wake up. I think Latnok did something to her."


	14. Chapter 14

**A.N.** I do not own Kyle XY or any of these characters.

Never Free To Be You And Me

Chapter 14

"Well that's it then," Stephen said with an emphatic wave of the cell phone in his hand. "If she doesn't gain consciousness in the next minute or two, I'm calling 911."_  
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"Her lips aren't blue, she's breathing fine and she cringed a little when Nicole held the frozen bag of peas to her eye," Kyle said quietly as he lightly brushed a strand of hair back from Amanda's face. "Which means she's responding to pain...so I don't think there's anything physical wrong with her..."

"You mean besides the shiner Jessi gave her?" Stephen pointed out.

Kyle glanced at Stephen. Catching movement over his shoulder by the doorway he saw Jessi standing there.

"So what are you saying Kyle?" Stephen asked. "That there's something mentally wrong with Amanda?"

Kyle's brow furrowed as he gazed across the room at Jessi. He hadn't wanted to believe it before now but the signs were all there. He took a breath before trying to explain. "There's a chance that Latnok re-chipped her, to make her forget whatever it is they might have done to her...but..."

"But this seems different this time," Jessi said walking through the doorway. Crossing the room in a few quick strides she stood at Amanda's bedside. "Her whole personality has changed. Whatever Latnok did this time is a lot more complicated than simply injecting a nanoscopic neural blocker into the receptors in her brain stem."

Stephen glanced from Jessi to Kyle, thinking how was that simple? He shook his head. "I'll let you two do your thing." He snapped open the phone. "In the meantime..." he said with a trepidatious look in his eyes. "...I'll try to get a hold of her mother. Although I have no earthly idea how I'm going to explain all this to her." Pressing number five on Kyle's speed dial, he left the room, still shaking his head.

"Do you think she's aware enough to feel anything?" Jessi asked a little hesitantly when she noticed what looked to be a cringe of pain cross Amanda's face. She really hadn't meant to physically harm Amanda. She'd simply underestimated her strength. Not that there had been enough time to formulate a plan to eliminate the possibility of causing injury before she'd pulled that pipe wrench out of her back pocket. She couldn't even begin to imagine what could have been going through Amanda's head to make her want to hurt Kyle.

"It isn't possible to decipher another person's level of awareness," Kyle answered her, not really in tune to what she was really asking. "I can only guess at what she's feeling..."

"I didn't mean to damage Amanda," she explained quickly. "It was an accident."

Kyle looked up and met her eyes. "I know that."

Jessi raised an eyebrow. "But before..."

As if knowing what she was going to say, Kyle interrupted her. "I wasn't blaming you Jessi. I was just upset." Jessi sighed, feeling tremendous relief that Kyle wasn't holding her error in judgement against her. He frowned before continuing. "I was in shock...Amanda attacked me in the basement with a pipe wrench."

"Better than Mrs. Peacock in the parlor with a pistol," Lori said, entering the room with the blanket her mother had requested.

Both Kyle and Jessi looked at her, total confusion written all over their face. However busy with her daughterly duties, Lori didn't bother to explain.

Shrugging the comment off, which was actually the norm for them seeing as they rarely understood pop culture references, Jessi and Kyle grabbed a section of the blanket and together all three of them pulled it across Amanda's body. Moving to the right a little to allow them more room to spread the blanket out, Lori bumped into the nightstand with enough force to knock over the teddy bear that Kyle had given Jessi a couple of months back. The weight of it carrying it over the edge, it fell to the ground with a dull thud. The button embedded in the bears paw activated and it immediately began playing the message Kyle had recorded inside.

_You stole my heart Jessi._

Kyle paused from tugging a portion of the blanket over Amanda's chest. Suddenly her arm shot out and before he could react she grabbed his wrist in a grip of iron.

_Meanwhile, back in la-la-land..._

Barely managing to keep their heads out of the water Amanda gripped the edge of the bathtub her knuckles turning white with the effort. She knew she needed to do something fast to save both herself and her friend from drowning. She glanced over her shoulder at the latest manifestation behind her. And getting eaten by several hundred hungry looking polar bears wouldn't be any picnic either. Amanda watched one of the bears as it stood on the iceberg drifting along in the strong current. Was that blood dripping from its mouth? When the bear suddenly lifted up one of its front paws and Amanda saw the mangled heart it had been snacking on, her own heart lurched painfully in her chest.

Quickly turning her attention back to the more urgent matter at hand, she used every bit of strength she could muster. With one arm she pulled herself up and over the edge of the tub. Safely inside, she braced herself. Her knees straddling the back of the tub for support, she tried to pull her friend up also, but though they had the same height and body build, she felt a lot heavier than she looked.

"Amanda?"

Hearing a muffled voice Amanda looked back over her shoulder.

"What's wrong Amanda? What did Latnok do to you?" she heard in her head. Was one of the bears talking to her? Which one is it, she wondered? Although from the way the voice had sounded like it was coming out of a tin can...

Distracted now, she stood up to get a better view, and in doing so, inadvertently let go of her friends hand. Quickly dropping back down to her knees she tried to reach for her...but the tub she was in seemed to have expanded in that short amount of time...in fact it was still expanding vertically and at such a fast pace that her hand could no longer reach her.

"No..." she said in disbelief as she sadly watched her friend slide down below the icy water. There were a few stray bubbles and then all Amanda was looking at was nothing but her own reflection on the surface. She sat back on her heels frozen with fear and indecision.

"Kyle Trager? Get your hands off of my daughter this instant!"


	15. Chapter 15

**A.N.** I do not own Kyle XY or any of these characters.

Never Free To Be You And Me

Chapter 15

Having been told her daughter had sustained a minor head injury during her visit, Carol Bloom had dropped the phone mid conversation and rushed over to the Trager's, furious words pouring from her lips the second she crossed the threshold into their house.

"What have you done to her? Where's Amanda?"

Opting to forgo the formality of greetings Nicole gestured toward the hallway. "She's in Jessi's room..." She barely got the words out before Mrs. Bloom brushed past her. "But maybe you should calm down a bit before you go in there."

Their first line of defense to get her to calm down an epic fail, Stephen tried another tactic. "Carol there's something we need to talk about," he began as he followed her down the hallway. Not that he knew quite what to say. How does one go about telling a parent you think their child might be having a psychotic episode. That was Nicole's field of expertise and, more than a little overwhelmed with the whole situation, even she didn't have a clue. "Carol...wait..." Though it might just be a mute point seeing as how Mrs. Bloom didn't seem to be listening to a word they were saying.

"How many times did I warn Amanda not to get involved with those two...orphans...Children these days...they don't want to listen to their..." her voice trailing off, she came to an abrupt halt in the hallway just outside of Jessi's room.

"No..." Amanda muttered in her unconscious state, dreaming she'd just lost her friend/alter ego in a dramatic icy polar bear laden scene.

"Kyle Trager? Get your hands off of my daughter this instant!" Carol shouted as she stormed into the room. Kyle looked up and stared at her, too startled to react.

"You shouldn't scream at people like that. It's not very polite," Jessi told her, but Mrs. Bloom paid her no heed.

Her eyes flashing with a familiar look of disapproval, she all but pushed Jessi aside, brandishing her smug moral superiority like a weapon. "It's not enough you people assault her for no reason. Now you all stand by and allow that boy to take advantage of her when she's helpless?" She patted Amanda's face a couple of times, as if trying to slap her into consciousness. "Amanda...it's time to wake up. We need to leave this den of sin right now."

"Oh brother..." Lori muttered, none too happy Mrs. Bloom had arrived on the scene. Nevertheless she backed up a couple of steps and sat down on Jessi's desk, eagerly anticipating the drama unfolding.

"Carol," Stephen said, trying to keep his temper in check. "Like I told you on the phone, she's still out cold. I don't think slapping her awake will help. And as far as taking her home..."

Judging from the expression on her husband's face Nicole knew he had a few more choice words to say to her but, deciding it might be better to placate Mrs. Bloom than to displease her anymore, she put a soothing hand on his arm. "Perhaps it would be best if, when Amanda does wake up, she's in more familiar surroundings?" she suggested to him quietly.

"Take advantage of her..." Kyle said repeating Carols words. Sounding befuddled, he was still stuck on her accusation. "I would never take advantage of Amanda." He looked towards his parents as they hovered uncertainly near the doorway, expecting them to speak up on his behalf, but they were busy conversing quietly with one another, weighing the pros and cons of where Amanda should be when she wakes up...in particular her proximity to Kyle if what Jessi had said was true. He looked back towards Mrs. Bloom when she sighed in exasperation.

Meeting Kyle's innocent blue-green gaze across her precious daughters unconscious form her brow shot heavenward. "You were stroking her...seductively," she said managing to make it all sound extremely dirty, "while exposing your naked flesh to my sweet innocent..." As her eyes traveled down Kyle's body, she froze mid thought, either noticing for the first time that he didn't have a bellybutton or mesmerized by his tight abs.

Following her gaze, Kyle glanced down at his torso. He'd been so concerned with Amanda, he'd forgotten he'd left his sweatshirt in the basement after he'd used it as a pillow for her. But having dealt with an irate Mrs. Bloom before, he realized she was currently too upset to listen so he didn't attempt to explain that part of the equation to her.

Mentally shaking herself out of her momentary stupor she nodded in Lori's direction as she continued, "...Flaunting your sexual prowess in front of Lori and..." Mrs. Bloom turned to look at Jessi as she stood there watching her.

A few silent seconds later, Jessi gave a huff of annoyance. It wasn't the first time Mrs. Bloom had forgotten her name and she was getting sick and tired of her rude behavior. "My name is Jessi. If you're having trouble remembering it just visualize it written out. I read somewhere that helps." When Lori snickered Jessi looked her way, a subtle satisfied smirk on her face.

Snapping out of her senior moment, Mrs. Bloom shifted gears back into her 'avenging mother' mode. "That's it," she said decisively. "I'm calling the police."

Both Lori's amusement and Jessi's smirk died a quick death at her words and multiple covert glances abounded across the room as she headed for the door.

"Wait...Carol," Nicole said in a beseeching tone. "I know you're upset, but...please reconsider..." Following after Amanda's mom, she shot a quick look of concern in Kyle and Jessi's direction, worried what the outcome would be for her family if the police were to come knocking on their door.

"Maybe a bottle of wine will make her feel better," Jessi suggested to Kyle in a low voice as she watched him heading towards the doorway and as if suddenly acquiring super hearing, Amanda's mom stopped dead in her tracks just outside the doorway, causing Nicole to plow right into her back.

She turned to look at Nicole sharply. "And I'll make sure to tell them how you tried to physically accost me on my way out. Apparently resorting to violence to get what you want runs in the family."

"Carol," Nicole gasped, aghast at her new threat. "I assure you, that wasn't my intention."

Stephen put an arm around his wife consolingly and exchanged a worried glance with Kyle as he crossed the room, joining him at his side.

"Mrs. Bloom..." Kyle began, not for the first time, wondering if Amanda's mom even had the capacity for reason, "...your concern should be with trying to help your daughter right now..."

"No Kyle," Lori asserted as she came to stand at her mother's shoulder. "Let Mrs. Bloom call the police. And when they come just be sure to tell them how her sweet innocent Amanda went all psycho bitch and attacked you. If it wasn't for Jessi taking her out like that, who knows what might have happened."

Her parent's having told Mrs. Bloom somewhat of a different story on the phone, she realized her error too late. Everyone froze where they stood, eyes wide with either confusion or fear. Jessi, however was wondering what sort of chemical mix she could come up with to make Mrs. Bloom temporarily lose her short term memory. In fact, she thought to herself, retrograde amnesia would be a win win situation for everyone involved.

Luckily, or perhaps not so luckily, it was at that precise moment that Amanda decided to jump ship (or bathtub) and rejoin them in the real world. Unfortunately, or once again, perhaps not so unfortunately, everyone was too preoccupied at the moment to notice. Jessi, being the closest to her bed, did however hear the familiar sound of her nightstand drawer opening and then quickly closing again. More than a little confused, she turned around just in time to see Amanda sitting up in bed and shoving something into her back pocket. Catching her looking at her, she smiled at her in a conspiratory way that of course raised Jessi's suspicions. What was she up to she wondered?

"Hey Amanda," she said, thinking she should give everyone in the room a heads up. "Sorry about accidentally knocking you out before." Offering her somewhat of a friendly smile in return, she watched her with an extreme weariness. Something about the way Amanda was looking at her was really familiar. And then suddenly she realized why.

"Amanda you're awake," Mrs. Bloom said from the doorway, her attitude doing a complete 180...or actually more of a 90 considering her smile was obviously false, and pushing Kyle aside, she headed back into the room.

"You think?" Amanda said with a quirk of her right brow and then she cringed. Bringing her hand up she gingerly felt around her swollen eye. As if suddenly remembering the reason she was sporting a huge black eye, her glance shifted from her mother back to Jessi. Her eyes narrowed, but this time Amanda didn't cringe. Instead, she threw her legs over the side of the bed and stood up with an ease that had them all gaping in wonderment.

"Amanda I'm so glad you're feeling better," Kyle said smiling brightly, he stepped back into the room, but hesitated when Nicole put a hand on his arm.

"Yeah, me too," Lori agreed.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," Stephen said in an obvious attempt to bring humor into what was a very uncomfortable situation.

"Yes," Nicole said, the expression on her face one of both relief and anxiousness. "We've all been waiting for you to wake up."

"And your mom was just about to call the police," Jessi added, deciding to fill Amanda in on the current situation.

"Call the police?" Amanda said speaking in a strong voice, a voice stronger than one might believe possible for being fresh on the doorstep of consciousness. "You're not calling anyone mother. Especially not the police."

When she noticed Amanda stealthily reaching behind her back, Jessi moved closer to the bed and when she saw her pull out the weapon... "That's probably not a good idea," she said seeing who she was pointing it at and then Jessi quickly sprang into action.


	16. Chapter 16

**A.N.** I do not own Kyle XY or any of these characters.

Never Free To Be You And Me

Chapter 16

"Call the police? You're not calling anyone Mother. Especially not the police."

Shocked at the amount of venom behind Amanda's words, Kyle drew in a sharp breath only to let it out again in a gasp of recognition when he saw her pull the weapon out of her back pocket. It was a taser gun…the same specially designed taser gun Cassidy had used on him after breaking into his home. When Jessi had found it later that night while helping to clean the shards of glass off of the deck in the back yard, Kyle had wanted to dispose of it in a manner that would prevent its illicit use. But Jessi had persuaded him that she might have good use for it one day and had kept it in her night stand drawer ever since. And knowing Jessi she probably kept it fully charged too. Wishing he had followed through with his original decision, the color drained from Kyle's face when he saw who Amanda was currently aiming it at.

"That's probably not a good idea," Jessi warned her just as a similar thought went through his head. Kyle could only hope that somewhere in her obviously confused mind Amanda could see reason why she shouldn't taser anyone, let alone her own mother. But Amanda didn't flinch at Jessi's warning, nor did she shift her focus in any way. Kyle, along with his parents, Lori and Mrs. Bloom, watched the scene unfold before them, unable to fully process what was occurring right now.

There was a flick of movement at Jessi's feet and then a large white teddy bear suddenly flew across the room. It missed Amanda's head by inches, but meant to miss; it distracted her enough to give Jessi the time she needed to make a move for the weapon. Springing into action, she leapt foreword and lunged at Amanda and, taking her completely by surprise promptly grasped her wrist with her right hand. Using her left hand, she pried the taser from her grasp and then letting her arm go pivoted her upper torso around to toss it across the room to Kyle. However, shocked by how easily Jessi had disarmed her and perhaps frustrated too, Amanda resorted to retaliation without much thought before she could.

"Jessi!" Kyle called out in warning to her upon noticing a familiar look of fire dancing in his ex-girlfriends eyes.

Jessi turned back around to see what had alerted him at the same moment Amanda, all in one movement, lifted her right leg to stomp on Jessi's foot and pulled back her right arm to deliver a blow. When she found Jessi's hand suddenly locked around her wrist again, Amanda gave her a look of astonishment, which quickly shifted to one of pain when she tried to rotate her hand to break the grip and Jessi twisted her arm around her back.

"Are you through?" she murmured in a low but dangerous voice, her breath stirring wisps of hair around Amanda's ear.

Amanda glared, but nodded her head slowly. Jessi relaxed her grip somewhat, but continued to press the taser against Amanda's back as if in warning.

Her eyes finding Kyle's across the room, a strange and curious expression came over Amanda's face. "I'll never give up trying to win your love back Kyle," she said and giving one last desperate and ultimately futile twist of her body to try to overpower Jessi, the taser in Jessi's hand 'accidentally' went off.

**A.N.** I know...this is really short. Hope you like it anyway.


	17. Chapter 17

**A.N.** I do not own Kyle XY or any of these characters.

Never Free To Be You And Me

Chapter 17

Jessi put her toothbrush down on the counter and reached for the floss. Attempting to pull out the properly apportioned length of waxed nylon she noticed it was at the end of the roll when she came up quite a few inches short and immediately opened up the vanity drawer to look for a new package. After Kyle scooted over to give her room to open the drawer wider for her search she rummaged frantically through the mess of hair accessories Lori kept in the bathroom along with various containers filled with chemical preparations for beautifying her face without success.

"No floss...great. I told Lori to pick up some at the store yesterday. I even put it on her list. How could she have forgotten?" She stared into the drawer a bit more before looking up just in time to catch Kyle's annoyed glance in her direction. What was that about? she asked herself as she watched him bend over to spit in the sink.

Kyle could tell Jessi's question didn't really require an answer, so he let her words hang in the air between them while he rinsed off his toothbrush and filled a paper cup with water from the faucet. He was still processing the chain of events that had taken place earlier that evening that had led to his ex-girlfriend being carted away in an ambulance. Nicole had told him that Amanda was suffering from some form of serious psychological distress. How could that be true? She'd seemed fine at school. He was shocked by what had happened and, although he had discussed the possible cause of her breakdown with Jessi and his family in great length...and the likelihood of Latnok being involved, he was still searching for answers.

Jessi gently pushed the drawer closed. A slight frown working its way across her brow she took a long moment to study Kyle's reflection in the mirror, uncertain from the shell shocked expression in his eyes if she was responding appropriately.

"Did I do something wrong?" she asked a bit hesitantly, wondering how in the world she could be thinking about floss, going about her bedtime rituals as if it was just another ordinary Friday night after all that had happened. Was that what was bothering him? That she didn't seem to care? Kyle had seemed so utterly devastated when Nicole made the decision to call an ambulance to take Amanda to the hospital. Quite frankly she'd been more worried about him than anything else. According to Nicole, Amanda was in good hands now. She knew a couple of the doctors at the psych ward and had reassured Kyle that they would keep her safe until they could determine Latnoks involvement in all of this. She'd basically told Mrs. Bloom the same thing, for obvious reasons leaving off the part about Latnok. At least for the present time.

Slowly draining his cup of water, Kyle met her eyes in the mirror briefly before dropping his gaze. "Of course you didn't do anything wrong," he told her, almost angrily crumbling the cup and tossing it into the wastebasket. It only took Jessi a second or two to determine he wasn't being truthful. It wasn't hard. He hadn't even tried to hide the fact.

"You can stop pretending," she said, taking his lead, and not trying to hide the fact that she was on to him. "I know you're mad at me." Was she not showing enough concern for Amanda's predicament, she wondered? Was he somehow blaming her for his ex girlfriends mental meltdown? She didn't think that was the case but he'd always been so protective of Amanda in the past, even after their breakup, she knew he had a hard time separating his emotions from the harsh realities of life at times. It was frustrating that he wasn't more like her in that way.

"Why would I be mad at you?" Kyle asked and although Jessi could find absolutely no trace of sarcasm in his voice, it was so obvious to her that she had done something to anger him she was left speechless.

_Oh, I don't know, _she thought to herself._ Maybe because I knocked Amanda out cold in the basement when she came at you with that pipe wrench, and then_ minutes later, when she regained consciousness and was threatening her mom in my bedroom, I accidentally sent a volt of electricity through her__ when I tasered her_ with Cassidy's specially designed taser gun...Amanda's extremely out of character behaviour evidently proving to Nicole that she's in dire need of a__ psych evaluation?_

"Jessi?" Kyle prodded, confusion and what she could only guess to be controlled frustration in his voice from his elevated blood pressure and the guarded way he was looking at her. "Why would you think that?"

_Because Amanda was your first love, and you'll always want to be there for her, to protect her, no matter what, _she concluded in her thoughts. Though she very easily could have cut straight to the point, the question was too difficult and she wasn't prepared to sum up the answer so succinctly.

Instead, she smiled politely at him and simply said, "Because I'm using up the last of the floss." And with that, she picked up the strand she'd pulled out from the end of the roll and began flossing her teeth as best she could with the short length as if it was the most normal thing to do after learning that your boyfriend's ex is not only mentally unstable but still has feelings for him.

She could sense Kyle watching her uneasily. She waited for his response, a part of her hoping he would admit that he knew she was lying so they could clear the air between them. She wasn't surprised in the least when he shrugged and turned away from her. He reached for the hand towel hanging on the wall next to them and wiped his mouth on it.

"I'm too tired to floss anyway. I'll see you at breakfast." He hesitated at the door. "Oh...and don't forget our meeting with Tom Foss tomorrow morning. We have to find out if Amanda's...problem...has something to do with Latnok. In order for us to do so, we'll have to come up with a plan...as well as a story to tell Mrs. Bloom to get the information we need. She might know something of importance about Amanda's...condition," he said, and then he left, shutting the door quietly behind him.

Jessi physically blanched as if she'd been slapped. It wasn't likely that she would forget the meeting they had scheduled with Foss. Kyle had seemed so relieved when he'd told him he was heading back to Seattle to assist them in the situation with Amanda that his relief had subsequently helped to abate her own unease somewhat. The meeting with Tom Foss wasn't what she was worried about.

The sickening feeling she'd been experiencing in the pit of her stomach off and on for the last couple of hours returning with a vengeance, Jessi tried not to picture the accusing look Carol Bloom had given her as she peered back at her through the Ambulance window while the emergency vehicle was rolling out of the Trager's driveway and down the street...on her way to the psych ward at Seattle's Children Hospital with her daughter...but she couldn't seem to stop herself.

"Why does she hate me so much?" she asked herself not for the first time.

"She doesn't hate you Jessi." She could still hear Kyle's consoling words echoing in her head. "She didn't mean to say those mean things to you or to yell at you like that. She's just upset. You already told everyone that what you did to Amanda was an accident. Mrs. Bloom might not believe you but I do."

_It's not my fault...Latnok made me this way_...Jessi repeated the mantra over and over in her head as she stared at her reflection in the mirror, but no matter how many times she said it she still felt bad. Why did she let that woman get to her like that?

She sighed forcefully in renewed frustration, the wisps of hair that had come lose from their previous position behind her ear blowing across her field of vision. I'm not cold and heartless...I'm capable of feeling guilt and remorse, she determined as she absently brushed them back. Of course she felt guilty for hurting Amanda. Though at the same time she felt a modicum of relief from guilt that she'd only briefly tased the girl before she'd forcibly reined in her errant trigger finger.

_It could have been a lot worse,_ she told herself, refusing to let what Mrs. Bloom had said bring her down. What if her instincts hadn't kicked in? What if she hadn't reached her in time and taken the weapon from her? What if Amanda had actually pulled the trigger?

Jessi cringed visibly as she pictured volt after volt of electricity being shot through Carol Bloom's body, her own daughter...her mind warped with anger and jealousy and who knew what all else, obviously not able or willing to think things through clearly...inflicting immobilizing pain, along with a massive wave of muscle contractions on her mother. Normally, and under entirely different circumstances, Jessi might have empathized with Amanda more than her mother, but now was not the time to dwell in any petty squabbles that she may have had with Carol Bloom.

Her features relaxing somewhat into a weary grin with the knowledge that she would probably never receive any more thanks for preventing the attack than the sarcastically sharp and very much barbed 'thank you' Mrs. Bloom had begrudgingly given her, thanks to Stephen sticking up for her when she'd laid into her for not only giving her daughter a black eye, but for keeping a fully charged taser in her nightstand drawer, Jessi continued to feed into the safer haven of forgiveness rather than vengeance, thinking that no matter how many times Mrs. Bloom might provoke people with her lack of sensitivity she didn't deserve to be tasered. Although, Jessi was of the opinion that tasers were dangerous and capable of inflicting great bodily harm on their victims she also thought they could be useful tools when used correctly against threatening individuals. Yes she had plans for that taser when she convinced Kyle to let her keep it...she still did in fact...but those plans hadn't involved Amanda Bloom whatsoever. She hadn't meant to turn the weapon on Kyle's ex nor had she meant to knock her unconscious back in the basement while trying to wrestle the wrench from her. She'd never intentionally hurt Amanda...unless certain circumstances required her to do so.

Jessi's eyes widened and her whole body tensed with emotion and energy as she tried to imagine what could have been going on in Amanda's head to make her want to hurt Kyle like that. She didn't believe her story for an instant. Her nonsensical rantings to her mother and the paramedics that she was simply trying to return the tool that Stephen had let her mother borrow might have had some basis of truth behind it but could only be dismissed by those who had witnessed her brandishing it like it was Thor's hammer and Kyle's head was the rainbow bridge leading back down to Earth. That combined with the strange look in her eye as she'd locked her gaze on him may have stunned Kyle into non-action but it had spelled trouble to Jessi with a capital C-R-A-Z-Y.

The air around her filling with static electricity...enough to make her hair float a bit around her head...Jessi was unable to fathom what might have happened if she hadn't reacted in time. What if Amanda had actually managed to get close enough to Kyle to cause him serious injury with that pipe wrench? Refusing to envision such an outcome, she closed her eyes and cleared her mind, before heading back to her bedroom. She didn't want to think about the complexities of 'what if' scenarios anymore. And she was much too tired to worry anymore if she'd done the right thing or not. What was done was done, there may still be consequences looming on the horizon for her, but there was no turning back. Her not so old, but at one time important personal adage of hers 'what would Kyle have done' to diffuse the situation would not come into play tonight. No matter how guilty she was feeling. And besides, guilt wouldn't get Kyle and her the answers to the questions they'd been asking all night.

The static in the air dissipating enough to grab the metal door handle without getting shocked, Jessi let her thoughts settle and focus on the more important issues as she exited the bathroom. What...or who...brought about these drastic changes in Amanda's personality? Was Latnok involved somehow? Did they or, more specifically, Cassidy have a hand in her mental breakdown? Because if it turned out that Latnok _was_ responsible and Cassidy had played even a remote part in Amanda's mental meltdown there was no doubt in her mind that when the time came, vengeance would take precedence over forgiveness.


	18. Chapter 18

**A.N.** I do not own Kyle XY or any of these characters nor do I own the songs or lyrics below.

Never Free To Be You And Me

Chapter 18

Did you ever try to fix something and end up breaking something instead? It happened to Jessi quite frequently, but yet she still kept on trying. When something as important as love was involved she didn't give up. She was stubborn that way…

…_And suddenly I become a part of your past  
>I'm becoming the part that don't last<br>I'm losing you and its effortless  
>Without a sound we lose sight of the ground<br>In the throw around  
>Never thought that you wanted to bring it down<br>I won't let it go down till we torch it ourselves…_

Despite being exhausted beyond belief, Jessi was unable and unwilling to fall asleep. Instead, she lay in her bed, listening to The Fray playlist on Lori's ipod. She had a lot on her mind that night…more than the usual mix of small transgressions and misunderstandings to reflect upon, and for once they weren't her own.

She had told Kyle she knew he was mad at her and he had lied right to her face. Had he done it to protect her feelings?

If that was the case he should have just told her the truth. She would have preferred that rather than him blatantly denying it like he had. Perhaps the truth wouldn't have hurt as much.

_And everyone knows I'm in  
>Over my head<br>Over my head  
>With eight seconds left in overtime<br>She's on your mind  
>She's on your mind<em>

Hearing those words in the song made Jessi think about the high degree of distress and worry Kyle had been experiencing earlier that evening. Just from the tone of his voice during the 'family meeting', the main topic of discussion being his ex-girlfriends situation, she could tell that he'd been concerned to the point of panic. Sure, he had every reason to be more anxious than he'd ever been before. And of course that anxiousness was making him agitated and impatient. But shouldn't he still be considerate of how his present girlfriend might be feeling too?

Reacting to the slight amount of guilt her thoughts were provoking in her, but at the same time feeling justified in acknowledging her own disquietude about how her boyfriend was acting towards her Jessi threw the covers off of her and sat up in bed, practically chomping at the bit to seek out Kyle's company and support. She needed affirmation, a significant amount of assurance that when it was all over, the dust had cleared and things were once again right with Amanda that everything was going to be okay between them.

He would have picked up on that fact if he hadn't been so distracted.

_Everyone knows  
>She's on your mind<br>Everyone knows I'm in over my head  
>I'm in over my head<br>I'm over my..._

Without even glancing down, Jessi pressed the skip button on Lori's ipod and sat waiting for the next song to continue playing; hoping the music and words might make her forget, or at least help to soothe what was currently ailing her…a restless uncertainty that wouldn't be stilled.

_Step one you say we need to talk  
>He walks you say sit down it's just a talk<br>He smiles politely back at you  
>You stare politely right on through<em>

_Some sort of window to your right  
>As he goes left and you stay right<br>Between the lines of fear and blame  
>You begin to wonder why you came<em>

In her darkened room, lit only by a small amount of moonlight streaming in from the partially open blinds, her eyes caught sight of a photo she had tacked to the wall over her desk.

_Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend…_

Rather than bothering to reach around to turn on the bedside lamp she enhanced her vision in order to see the picture more clearly.

_...Somewhere along in the bitterness._

Kyle and her just outside of the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland. It was their first photo as an official couple.

…_And I would have stayed up with you all night…_

Yes…she was seeing it more clearly now.

…_Had I known how to save a life._

And no…it wasn't ironic at all that they were standing in front of the famous horse drawn hearse.

She wasn't sure why but it was almost as if the pixilated recording of her image staring back at her was mocking her. Her brow knitting into more thoughtful lines, she shifted her focus to Kyle's image standing next to her...one arm loosely encircling her waist...and recalled how, in their ecstatic state of mind, Kyle and she had said the words 'doom buggy' together just as the park photographer had instructed them to do before snapping their picture.

_Let him know that you know best  
>Cause after all you do know best<em>

As Jessi studied Kyle's genuinely happy face in the photo she allowed a flashback of their first romantic kiss as a couple that had soon followed to overtake her.

_Try to slip past his defense  
>Without granting innocence<em>

She remembered how she had attempted to make the moment more memorable for them both. But knowing his parents were watching, Kyle had resisted, keeping the kiss more light and practically voltage free.

_Lay down a list of what is wrong  
>The things you've told him all along<em>

Sure he was mature and thoughtful when it came to doing the right thing at the right time, but sometimes it seemed like he was more concerned with other people's feelings than her own.

_And pray to God he hears you  
>And pray to God he hears you<em>

_And where did I go wrong, I lost a friend  
>Somewhere along in the bitterness<em>

Some days it was truly hard to face even the most positive things in your life she decided blinking the memory away and throwing the majority of the room into darkness once again.

_And I would have stayed up with you all night  
>Had I known how to save a life<em>

Had Kyle just been too tired to tell her what was bothering him before when they were going through their nightly rituals together, she wondered? Then why didn't he just say so instead of trying to pretend he didn't know what she was talking about and then bolting from the bathroom, as if he didn't want to be around her anymore.

Her more immediate concern stirring up a familiar sense of uncertainty inside of her Jessi threw her legs over the side of the bed and stood, turning towards the direction of Kyle's room. Unable to stop herself, she tried to break into his thoughts, knowing, like her, he was still awake and also knowing full well that if he found out what she was doing he'd be mad at her.

_As he begins to raise his voice_

But he already was mad at her…though for the life of her she didn't know why.

_You lower yours and grant him one last choice_

He didn't even kiss her goodnight like he normally did.

_Drive until you lose the road_

And now he was shutting his thoughts away from her, blocking their connection she suddenly realized. She must have done something really wrong to make him do that.

_Or break with the ones you've followed_

Didn't she tell him once how deeply shutting her out cut into her? Did he not know how deeply it still cut?

Maybe he needed her to remind him.

Not wanting the last words between Kyle and her that night to be their trivial comments about floss she thought about going to see him, but she didn't want to push the issue if he was still reluctant to talk to her, and after their last awkward encounter it wasn't clear to her whether he'd be receptive to the idea of talking to her again that night.

_He will do one of two things  
>He will admit to everything<em>

Would he be glad to see her and make an effort to clear the air between them?

_Or he'll say he's just not the same  
>And you'll begin to wonder why you came<em>

Or would he be annoyed with her?

_Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend  
>Somewhere along in the bitterness<em>

It wouldn't be the first time she'd broken the 'no visiting each other's rooms after hours' rule Nicole and Stephen had imposed upon them. He'd never seemed to mind much before. Would he scold her now? Was he that angry with her?

_And I would have stayed up with you all night  
>Had I known how to save a life<em>

Jessi huffed a short sigh of frustration thinking that since he was blocking her from reading what he was presently thinking, perhaps she should try to gage what he was feeling. Then she'd know if she should bother going to see him now or if she should wait until morning to talk about it. Maybe he'd be in a better frame of mind then.

_Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend  
>Somewhere along in the bitterness<br>And I would have stayed up with you all night  
>Had I known how to save a life<br>_

After concentrating for several seconds Jessi decided the music was too much of a distraction for her to directly link into Kyle's emotions so she pulled the ear buds out of her ears and set the ipod down...ever so gently...on her nightstand. The last thing she needed was for Lori to be mad at her too, for breaking something of hers...especially since she finally seemed to be warming up to her.

A frown creased her brow right before she closed her eyes. She didn't really want to invade Kyle's privacy but she had to. Something was compelling her. Maybe it was the simple fact that she knew it was important for them not to go to bed mad at each other. As friends that might have been acceptable, but they were more than just friends now, they were in a relationship. And the demands of their relationship meant that they needed to work together to understand each others feelings and emotions.

She wasn't certain if she'd be able to feel Kyle out so to speak since he was blocking his thoughts from her, but she tried anyway. At first she got nothing and she thought…unlike her, tossing and turning half the night…he might have finally fallen asleep. She adjusted her audio range, quickly and easily determining that he wasn't breathing deeply enough to be asleep. In fact…she couldn't hear him breathing at all. It was then that she realized she couldn't pick up on his heart beat either.

Was he somewhere other than his room, somewhere out of her range? She turned her focus upstairs thinking he might be in the bathroom…four heartbeats…none of them Kyle's. To her surprise, the next thing she heard was the basement door opening and then softly closing again.

Confused and more than a little concerned she crossed her room in a few quick strides and opened her bedroom door. Rushing down the adjacent hallway her pulse quickening with every step she turned the corner in the darkness overwhelmed by questions and fears and not knowing what to expect...


	19. Chapter 19

**A.N.** I do not own Kyle XY or any of these characters.

Never Free To Be You And Me

Chapter 19

_This is my chance,_ Jessi thought to herself, practically skipping down the hallway. _Everyone in the house is asleep except for Kyle; this is my chance to talk to him without the possibility of anyone listening in on our conversation. I can finally find out why he's been acting so distant and cold towards me…why he's shutting me out._

Sensing his close proximity Jessi nervously approached the kitchen, fully aware by the way he was blocking all telepathic vibes from her that he wasn't in an open and receptive mode. However, with a firm resolve not to back down, she continued to make her way down the long seemingly endless hallway.

The room was darkened, and there was a rustling noise to the right of her as she rounded the corner. She didn't need to enhance her vision one little bit, he was leaning over with his head in the refrigerator, the light from inside illuminating his silhouette. As she stood there watching him, she wondered if he would pick up on her anxiousness right away, ask her what was wrong. Her disquietude had always been very palpable, to those few who really understood her. And it had always been Kyle…her best friend, her soul mate…he was the one person who understood her the best. It had only been a few hours but she already missed him, missed the exclusiveness of their relationship, the intimacy of it…

Kyle hadn't blocked her from 'listening in' to his thoughts and feelings all that often, but when he did; usually she paid heed to his unspoken request to give him some space and time to breath.

Jessi flinched mid-step, uncertain how Kyle would respond to her showing up unexpectedly, springing her fears and concerns about their relationship on him in the middle of the night like this. Would he show the same solicitude towards her that he had shown for Amanda earlier that night, or would he still be preoccupied with worry about his ex-girlfriend?

_Too preoccupied to look right over his shoulder…_

Jessi clenched her jaw and took a determined step forward. She wouldn't allow negative thoughts to deter her any longer.

She approached him cautiously, not wanting to startle him, thinking if he would take a moment to listen…to really listen…she was sure he would recognize her from the loud thumps of her pounding heart, which seemed to be echoing throughout the voluminous kitchen. But even if he was too tired or distracted to have the presence of mind to observe her cardiac cycle, she thought, there had been times when Kyle could detect that she was feeling distressed or insecure simply by her tone of voice.

Was it only just that afternoon that he was tracking her every movement with his eyes, her every whim with his eager heart and intuitive senses? How she longed to have his lips claim hers, to feel his arms around her. She took a breath, hoping that now would be one of the rare occasions that the special bond they shared overrode all of his other connections. His gentle and kind nature, his careful attention to every detail would be more than appreciated right about then.

"Hey," she said suddenly finding herself standing behind him. "I'm glad you're still awake…"

Evidently now wasn't one of those times, she concluded as all the wind suddenly went out of her sails…quite literally so…when Kyle unexpectedly straightened and reached to close the refrigerator door all in one motion, his left elbow connecting solidly with her solar plexus.

"Oof…" was the somewhat embarrassing sound that came out of her mouth as she fell back a few steps, although any awkwardness she might have been feeling was overridden by the current struggle she was having to breath. Kyle whirled around and their eyes met for the first time. If she could have at the moment, Jessi would have gasped in surprise.

Instead of looking concerned and contrite as he normally would, Kyle had an expression of deep exasperation on his face.

"Jessi…I thought you were asleep. What are you doing up so late?"

Mentally hurt and physically unable to answer, Jessi blinked in shocked confusion when Kyle's face suddenly transformed into Michael Cassidy's.

"Are you alright?" he asked with a leering, sarcastic smirk. "Because it's okay if you're not."

The refrigerator door swung closed with a loud bang and Jessi's world was suddenly pitched into darkness. She couldn't scream, but she tried anyway, however in her deep REM sleep, it came out more as a low moan of despair.

Why was she currently asleep in her bed…en-snarled in a dream about her boyfriend's villainous brother…instead of wrapped in Kyle's loving arms? Or was she currently wrapped in Kyle's comforting arms, sleeping beside him in her luxurious queen sized bed? Her dreams had always seemed so very much alive, it was really hard for her to tell what was real and what was simply a fragment out of her life, being rewritten by her creative subconscious mind...

**A.N. **Stay tuned for chapter 20 to find out what really went down that night.

**A.L**. (author's lament) Would anyone even notice if chapter 20 didn't get posted? Does anyone really care? LOL


	20. Chapter 20

**A.N.** I do not own Kyle XY or any of these characters.

Never Free To Be You And Me

Chapter 20

Kyle's POV…

_Sometimes stress is too strong and just too serious and too much to handle alone…_

As they lay in each others arms in Jessi's queen-sized bed, Kyle smiled a little to himself when she pressed her cheek into his chest to get more comfortable, liking how she was presently using it as a pillow. She seemed so contented and peaceful. He was glad he could at least offer that much.

_I was having trouble sleeping that night. Not only was I in a strange place in my head over what was happening with Amanda, I was in a strange place for me to sleep. However, the fact that I usually had problems falling asleep anywhere other than my bathtub wasn't what was keeping me awake. I'd been out of sorts in a major way for the better part of the evening or until, quite literally, running into Jessi in the kitchen. Not that I was feeling any less worried or confused after our long discussion about the bad mood I was in and why I shouldn't take it out on my girlfriend. I still feel terrible for doing that and for making Jessi feel so upset that her ability to recognize me, to sense my presence and distinguish it from other people was weakened._

_Even though Jessi and I were able to work out our misunderstanding and were in a better frame of mind to face the meeting with Foss and the challenges ahead of us compared to before our talk, communicating my feelings to her from the beginning, would have been a lot less painful in the end._

_Flashback…_

Kyle was annoyed. Weary from worry and all the stress and horrors of the evening, he'd been on the verge of stepping into his nice cozy bathtub when he remembered his promise to Stephen to fix the problems Josh was having with the electricity in his room. Knowing the early morning meeting he had scheduled with Foss meant he wouldn't have time to make the repairs until sometime later in the afternoon, he'd donned his bathrobe and gone back down to the basement only to learn that his previous diagnosis had been correct…the fault Jessi and he had caused in the branch wiring behind the electrical panel wasn't going to be a quick fix. Three very long, frustrating hours later he had completed the repairs and was heading back to his room to try to get some sleep when he ran into someone just as he was exiting the kitchen…

Although Kyle's vision was still adjusting from the bright fluorescent lighting in the basement and he couldn't really see very well, when his upper torso came into abrupt contact with something soft yet firm and his face brushed up against something silky and pleasantly fragrant he quickly determined who it was…Jessi. Mostly from the familiar fruity aroma of mango and apricots that was filling his nostrils, but also from the super speedy way her knee then came up and caught him squarely in his solar plexus after he grasped onto her arms to maintain his balance.

Evidently, unlike him, Jessi didn't immediately make out who it was she had bumped into in the darkened hallway, and before she could, her survival instincts kicked in…along with a pretty healthy dose of adrenalin, followed by a flood of easy-to remember defense tactics she'd acquired somewhere along the line…possibly either courtesy of Madacorp, television or the internet. Not that it mattered to Kyle exactly where she had learned those particular skills at that particular point.

"Oof…" Having had the air forcefully knocked out of him on a few occasions in the past, Kyle was familiar with the sensation, but familiar or not, getting kneed in the gut when you weren't expecting it still hurt like the dickens. The thickness of his bathrobe, did very little to protect him from the powerful force of Jessi's blow. Folding at the waist, he collapsed into a ball of pain; the muffled thud of his body hitting the floor echoing in the narrow hallway.

"Kyle!" Jessi exclaimed, realizing who her unlucky victim was. And yes, at that exact moment in time, Kyle was feeling every bit the unlucky victim.

Had Jessi mistaken him for an intruder, he wondered as he lay there gasping for air? How was that even possible? What happened to the unique connection they shared that strengthened their awareness of one another? Where was their psychic bond when he needed it?

Reaching over in the dark for the switch on the wall, Jessi flicked it on; shedding light onto what had quickly become a very awkward situation. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Kyle frowned as he continued to try to regain his breath. He hoped Jessi wasn't expecting him to answer her…there wasn't enough air left in his lungs to do so. Turning a little to see her better, he focused on her face when she knelt down, leaned over him, a mixed look of surprise and extreme contriteness washing over her features.

"I'm so sorry Kyle…I didn't know it was you…"

More than a bit concerned about that, Kyle had a pretty good idea who it was Jessi might have thought was exiting the basement so late at night and forgave her instantly, and he would have told her that if he had the wherewithal to form syllables…and he wasn't struggling to breathe…and his world wasn't slowly fading to black…

His vision blurring from lack of oxygen, he closed his eyes, hoping when he opened them again he'd be able to see more clearly as well as breathe more easily. Unable to witness the line of worry crossing Jessi's brow, Kyle's eyes flew open again in surprise when she bent down, and putting her lips to his, clamped her fingers over his nostrils. Her warm lips pressed firmly over his, she blew air into his mouth.

Feeling his cheeks puff out Kyle panicked for a long moment until he realized Jessi was performing mouth to mouth resuscitation on him. A second later, she let go of his nose, released his mouth and put her hands on his chest. Thinking she was going to continue with the life saving techniques he'd recently taught her he drew in a much needed gasp of air as he reached a quick hand up to lightly grasp her wrist.

Eyebrows rising in puzzlement, Jessi stared down into his bemused eyes. It was at that moment that Kyle finally caught his breath enough to speak, and when he did, he was finding it hard not to smile. "I don't need CPR Jessi…My heart didn't stop." At her blank look he explained further. "Don't you remember? People only need CPR when…"

"Of course I remember," Jessi said interrupting him. And then she huffed in obvious annoyance.

Feeling Jessi trying to ease her wrist from his loosened grasp Kyle let her go. He really had no clue at all why his girlfriend was so annoyed with him. And besides, he was the injured one, shouldn't he be the one who was upset? Nevertheless he brushed away the thought and scrambled to his feet when she stormed away from him.

"Jessi…wait," he said and then he paused in the middle of the kitchen and licked his lips, suddenly realizing how parched he was. He'd been working in the dry dusty basement for hours and hadn't had anything to drink since going through his nightly rituals with Jessi. Well the majority of his nightly rituals anyway. He'd been so stressed out over Amanda's predicament; he'd skipped the last part of their day, where they usually hugged and kissed each other goodnight…

_End of flashback…_

Comforted to the point of falling asleep, Kyle heard a soft moan escape Jessi's slightly parted lips. He frowned and shifted ever so slightly, pressing his body more firmly up against her…if that was even possible…their bodies wrapped around each other securely in a loving embrace.

_After picking myself up off the floor, I followed Jessi into the kitchen and stood there in shocked silence as she filled a glass with water and gave it to me, along with an earful for blocking her out from my thoughts. I didn't understand how she would think I would do that, especially not after she'd admitted to me once, how disconnected and alone that made her feel._

_As it turned out, the effectiveness of her telepathic abilities had been impaired because of the negative vibes she'd been picking up from me. And I didn't know it at the time, but her fretful restless mood had been having a similar effect on me. Of course at that time neither of us had any idea that could happen to us. We'd gone through stressful situations together before and still been able to maintain our telepathic link. _

_At least after our conversation, my mood as well as Jessi's brightened enough to eliminate the interference. It wasn't until the same thing happened at a later point in our lives that we were able to determine the cause of the interference. _

_But then, not knowing we were both equally to blame for the miscommunication, I apologized. All I knew was that somehow, I had really hurt Jessi's feelings. That alone made it painfully clear to me that our telepathic ability to receive each others thoughts and emotions was not only a vital line of our communication, but necessary if we expected our relationship to function at its best._

_After my apology, Jessi forgave me and said that she knew I hadn't meant to shut her out of my mind so completely. I was glad that she forgave me, even though she should have known all along that I would never intentionally do that. We didn't want to chance waking up my family so I followed her into her bedroom to talk some more. We sat on her bed for a while, discussing the recent events and why we were both feeling so pent up and stressed. Suddenly realizing the lateness of the hour, I made a move to leave but Jessi stopped me with a single look that spoke volumes, more than any dialogue could…verbal or telepathic. My bathtub could wait I decided, my girlfriend was in need of a long kiss goodnight._

_Half an hour later, Jessi snuggled into my arms and fell asleep almost instantly. Although I was equally exhausted from the day's events, I knew sleep would be a struggle; my relationship with Jessi may have been back on track, but disturbing thoughts about Amanda were still running rampant in my mind… _

Kyle couldn't believe he hadn't seen it. All the warning signs had been there. Why hadn't he noticed that Amanda was so troubled sooner? If he had taken time to talk to her, let her know he was there for her if she needed him maybe that would have been enough to prevent her from snapping…before she went over the edge like that. Just like prom night, things could have turned out differently…_should_ have turned out differently. He should have been there to protect her from Latnok…he should have been there to protect her from herself…he should have…

_No! _Kyle told himself, clinging onto his girlfriend's earlier piece of advice she had offered him like a life jacket in an endless sea of guilt._ Jessi's right; I have to stop thinking like that. It's a two way street. Amanda could have come to me…told me she was having problems…asked me for help…_

Kyle took a breath and, feeling a little calmer now, pulled himself to safer ground.

And even if Amanda had recognized that she was having difficulties coping with her personal life, if it turned out she had some type of serious mental health problem _could_ he even have helped her? As Nicole had informed him, certain tests needed to be performed and some type of diagnosis was required before the appropriate treatment could even begin.

Kyle shivered inwardly with fear before his mother's soothing words ran through his mind.

'_Whatever might have triggered Amanda's psychotic episode, she's in good hands now. Seattle's Children Hospital has an excellent staff of psychiatric physicians and therapists. They'll do everything in their power to help her.' _

Kyle closed his eyes, mentally trying to force his heart and respiratory rate to slow down by exhaling and holding it, followed by quick and deep inhale breaths. But in the stillness of the night, as he lay there, arms wrapped around the woman he loved, his plan to trick his body into falling asleep fell by the wayside as his thoughts became flooded with the memories of his first true love. Every perfect memory he shared with Amanda flashed through his head…followed in quick succession by the not so perfect memories, which inadvertently led him right back to where he had been before he closed his eyes…stuck in a guilt-loop over Amanda's shocking attempt to use violence against him.

Before his eyes flew open in frustration, the last memory he re-lived was the ambulance pulling away from the driveway, speeding down the street, with Amanda strapped to a gurney inside. As he pictured her lying there, struggling to break free, her large, frightened sea-blue eyes were too haunting for him to handle at the moment, so he blinked the image away.

Kyle sighed, knowing sleep would not come easily that night, just the thought or idea of his ex-girlfriend being admitted to a psychiatric ward had him panicked and in a lot of mental anguish. It was his fault she was there; he had let down his guard…even though he shouldn't have…

The sound of a soft moan once again brought him out of his guilt-laden misery. As he watched her sleeping, Kyle wondered if Jessi's unconscious mind was repeating the events of the evening over and over, just like his conscious mind was. Thinking she might be in the middle of a nightmare, he thought about waking her up, but then immediately thought better of it. Instead of abruptly jarring her out of her sleep, he decided it might be a better idea to send her a series of telepathic thoughts to steer the path of her dreams to happier pastures. Some kind of message, relating to a recent experience they had shared that would be more easily available to her in her memory bank might work to induce a more pleasant dream.

Kyle smiled a lopsided sort of grin, having a pretty good idea which memory from the evening Jessi would most likely choose to relive…as well as which memory she wouldn't. His smile quickly fading, he swallowed…hard…trying to keep from having another flashback. But despite his best efforts to keep it from happening, the vivid image of Amanda's fierce, angry face resurrected and the scene in the basement once again enfolded him like a too heavy blanket on a hot summer night. The events played out in his mind as a series of snapshots, culled directly from the deepest recesses of his brain.

His emotions still raw from the experience he felt tears threatening behind his eyes as he relived the moment where Amanda lunged at him with the pipe wrench, frame by painful frame. He hadn't wanted to believe it at first, it had seemed impossible to him that someone so kind, so gentle and non-aggressive, could want to commit such a spiteful, hurtful act. Which was why he had concluded that the only logical explanation was that Latnok was responsible, somehow they had done something to Amanda, something to drastically alter her personality, he was sure of it now. But what could they have done to her to make her want to inflict pain on others, in particular on him…but also on her mother?

Luckily for everyone involved, whatever purpose Amanda…or Latnok…had in mind had been thwarted by Jessi's quick thinking and tendency to always expect the worst but to hope for the best. At least she had had the wherewithal to figure out how to stop her before anyone got hurt, even though in the end, whatever plan Amanda had may have backfired on her and she was the one that ended up getting hurt.

Not that Kyle was blaming Jessi in any way for the part she played in taking her out of commission. Amanda was acting confused and was out of control, there was really nothing else she could have done. Though it had all happened so fast and had been extremely hard to make sense of, one thing was clear in Kyle's mind. None of this was Jessi's fault. He'd never questioned that line of thinking. Why would he even?

Kyle clenched his jaw, knowing in his heart where the real blame lay. Though it hadn't always been in his nature to think so, Jessi's habit of expecting the worst was beginning to rub off on him. He just hoped that whatever Cassidy might have done to Amanda was reversible.

_But if he messed with her mind, her wonderful, beautiful mind…_

How could his brother dare to do something so cruel, so devious to an innocent young girl? Was it all just a game to him, he wondered not for the first time?

Kyle was more than baffled, he was outraged, as well as frustrated beyond belief that he had to wait until morning to even begin to search for the answers he would need to help Amanda. He knew Foss would come through for him again, he would find out what Latnok was up to, if anything even remotely suspicious was going on he'd let him know come morning. But just like the insight Mark had shared with him on the phone, when he'd called him to find out if he'd heard any news on Cassidy's latest ploy to control him, he didn't hold out much hope that he wasn't in the thick of things.

_And if it turns out Cassidy is involved with any of this…_

"Are you all right?" Jessi said, her soft breath warming his left upper arm and her concerned and caring voice managing to soothe his agitated soul somewhat. He was glad she was awake because it offered him some distraction from the angry feelings simmering inside of him, though it hadn't been his intention at all to awaken her.

Hearing her breath catch in her throat slightly on the intake, Kyle lifted his face from the pillow and looked down at the top of Jessi's head for a long moment before realizing he was squeezing her body quite tightly, which was probably why she had woken up.

"Oh…sorry," he said loosening his hold a little so she could breath more freely, but not unwrapping his arms from around her as she lay cuddled up against him. She snuggled back into his chest and he sighed softly and closed his eyes, reveling in the warm, comforting feeling of their naked flesh touching one another and the special connection they shared with each other. Jessi's presence at the moment was exactly what he needed, no matter how upset his parent's might be if they were to find them like that. He knew it wasn't a very wise choice, considering the ground rules they were supposed to be following, nor was it a very sensible position for either of them to try to fall to sleep in, but sometimes logic can be wrong. And besides, he wasn't ready to let her go just yet.

Laying his head back down on Jessi's pillow, he stroked her hair lightly, and lifted his other hand from the small of her back to loosen the covers that he'd noticed had somehow gotten tangled around her waist.

"Go back to sleep. I'll try not to wake you again." Stroking her hair one last time, he kept his tone low and melodic, thinking, with her face pressed against his chest, the soft vibration might help to lull her back to sleep. In the next instant it was obvious to him that Jessi wasn't ready or willing to do so.

"What if I don't want to go to sleep?" She tipped her head forward a bit to brush her soft lips against his arm. Kyle smiled to himself, but his smile disappeared completely with her next words. "I think you might need my help to keep your thoughts from straying," she stated perfunctorily. "You're letting what you think Cassidy might have done to Amanda mess with your mind again. Even though you promised you would try to quiet your thoughts long enough to get some sleep."

Hearing an accusatory tone in her voice and knowing she was right, Kyle tried to shrug it off, but with the weight of Jessi's upper body pressing down on him for the last twenty minutes or so his right shoulder had fallen asleep so it came off as more of a half of a shrug.

"I can't help it," he said refusing to feel guilty over the fact that he'd promised her he'd give any thoughts about Amanda and Latnok a rest for the night. She had to know how difficult of a promise that would be for him to carry through with.

Kyle winced when she squeezed his bicep…hard. "That's a lame excuse," she told him. "I bet you didn't even make an effort."

"I did," he replied, knowing his admission could fall under the category of a little white lie, but then feeling guilty anyway he added, "at first."

Jessi laughed, her breath tickling his arm again. "So whatever we did…before…helped you forget a little?"

Kyle smiled despite feeling a little guilty for that also. "I guess."

Lifting her face from his chest, she tilted her head back to stare into eyes. "Really?"

Kyle's smile widened at her sudden exuberant grin. "Of course it did. Why wouldn't it have?"

Without saying a word, she raised a brow at him. Kyle knew instantly what she was implying.

"We probably shouldn't do it again," he told her, quickly coming to the realization, when Jessi lowered her head and started leaving a trail of little wet kisses all the way up his chest that he should have made his response sound a lot more decisive.

**A.N.** Hope you enjoyed the extra long chapter...Next up...the meeting with Foss.


	21. Chapter 21

**A.N.** I do not own Kyle XY or any of these characters.

Never Free To Be You And Me

Chapter 21

The rest of the household still probably sleeping considering it was early on a Saturday morning, Jessi and Kyle quietly rose out of bed to dress and get ready for their meeting with Tom Foss. The both of them were equally eager to find out if Foss had learned anything new about Latnok, whatever Cassidy might have done to Amanda being uppermost on their minds. Jessi had finished up in the bathroom first and was sitting at her usual spot at the kitchen island eating her breakfast when Kyle came down the stairs.

Hearing him coming up behind her, she vaguely wondered if he would do what he normally did in the morning whenever Stephen and Nicole weren't in the vicinity, and softly brush her hair away and kiss the nape of her neck, but instead he walked right by her without even saying a word.

Chewing on a mouthful of cereal thoughtfully, Jessi watched as Kyle grabbed a bagel from the fridge and a glass out of the cabinet and joined her. He sat down next to her and absently reached for a banana from the fruit bowl in front of him. He frowned slightly as he peeled his banana and didn't bother looking her way when she pushed the carton of orange juice closer to his reach.

Jessi was concerned and wanted to ask Kyle how he was feeling, but considering the task they had ahead of them, she could understand why he wouldn't want to get all touchy feely with his emotions, especially since he'd gotten about as much sleep as she had, which wasn't much.

Deciding to give Kyle some space as well as a little peace and quiet to eat his breakfast, Jessi soon reverted back to her own private contemplations while eating her cereal. After everything that had happened with Amanda, oddly enough, as she had been waiting for Kyle to show up, her thoughts had drifted to a movie she'd recently seen with Lori and Josh about a group of girls attempting to escape an asylum. Unbeknown to her a frown creased her brow as she stirred the cereal floating around in her bowl with her spoon, her tired mind taking her down a dark path that she knew better than to share with Kyle.

Seeing the parallels between Amanda and the character named Baby Doll from the movie _Sucker Punch_ she couldn't help but to be worried for her safety in the psychiatric unit. She cringed as she remembered the tense scene with the doctor holding the needle near Baby Doll's eye. Of course she knew from having talked about it with Nicole that kind of treatment for mental patients wasn't used anymore, but still, it had been quite scary and disturbing to watch on the big screen. Having her brain tampered with and being left a mindless…

Kyle looked her way. "What's the matter?" he asked reaching for the carton of orange juice.

"Nothing," she said immediately, and quickly cleared her thoughts.

Jessi was surprised when Kyle smiled at her before pouring himself a glass of orange juice. She was sure he would have picked up on the fact that she wasn't being quite honest with him. "Do you want anymore orange juice?" he asked, holding up the carton. She shook her head.

"It's almost seven," she replied, totally glad now that he hadn't been paying close attention to her. "We should probably go."

Kyle glanced at her half eaten bowl of Coco Puffs on the counter top in front of her as she stood up. "But you didn't finish your breakfast yet." When Jessi quirked a brow at him he nodded. "Right. We don't want to keep Foss waiting."

Jessi set her bowl and glass in the sink and put the orange juice back in the fridge before heading for the front door. Kyle drained his glass of juice in a few quick gulps, but paused after grabbing his bagel off the counter.

"Wait," he said, "we forgot to ask Nicole or Stephen which car we can…"

Without even turning around, Jessi jangled a set of car keys up in the air. Despite his anxious state of mind Kyle had to smile at how she seemed to be one step ahead of him. Still smiling, he quickly followed after her, catching the front door just in time before it slammed shut. Everyone had had such a late night he didn't want to chance waking his family up.

Closing the door softly behind him, Kyle wondered whose car keys Jessi had acquired. He was more than a little surprised when she headed towards Josh's car, which was parked in the street. Josh hardly ever loaned out his car to anyone. Not that anyone would want to borrow it. His 'pride and joy' wasn't exactly in pristine condition. And besides, wasn't it low on gas, which was the reason they'd had to take the bus to school the morning before?

As if detecting where his thoughts and concerns had drifted to, Jessi peered at him over the roof of the car before getting in the drivers seat. "Josh made a deal with me. He said we could borrow his car as long as we fill up the tank."

"Oh…okay," Kyle said slowly.

Jessi rolled her eyes when still he hesitated. "And don't worry. I'll try to keep from breaking any traffic laws this time."

_A little over an hour later…just outside of Seattle…_

"_When my dad was alive, we used to sit in the gardens of Lancaster Park and talk for hours. He always told me I could do anything if I just believed."_

"_But what if I fail?"_

"_You won't."_

"_How can you be so sure?"_

"_Because…I believe in you."_

"_Amanda…"_

"Wake up Kyle…we're almost there."

Kyle opened his eyes and blinked a few times to clear the dream he'd been having about Amanda from his mind. He couldn't believe he'd fallen asleep on the car ride to meet with Foss, especially since Jessi was driving. She was a good driver, but she had a heavy foot, and he always had to remind her to pay attention to the speed limit.

Jessi checked the coordinates on the GPS she'd attached to the dashboard sometime that morning and shook her head.

"I don't understand why Foss couldn't name a location to meet him at instead of just texting you a set of coordinates. There was a perfectly good McDonalds about two miles back down this road. It had a huge indoor play area too."

Kyle raised his eyebrows and turned to stare at Jessi.

Noticing Kyle watching her out of the corner of her eye, Jessi shifted her focus from the road to look at him. "What?" she asked.

Wondering what was the significance of the indoor play area, Kyle smiled, picturing Jessi crawling through the narrow tunnels and sliding down the slides. "A play area?" he asked her.

Instead of answering right away, Jessi watched Kyle for a long moment…too long of a moment to be taking her eyes off the narrow dirt road they were on, he decided.

Kyle swiftly shifted his focus back to the road they were currently hurtling down, eyes immediately widening in concern, knowing Josh's car still had the original shocks. "Jessi…watch out for the…" Kyle bounced violently in his seat, his head nearly hitting the roof. "…pot hole," he finished in a low mumble to himself.

Jessi rolled her eyes; having turned her concentration from driving to Kyle's mind to read his thoughts she'd seen what Kyle had pictured her doing. "That would never happen in a million years," she told him firmly and finally refocusing her attention back to the road in front of them she smiled a little before adding, "Those kind of play structures for children are just teaming with germs."

With Jessi's eyes back where they should be, Kyle loosened his grip on the door handle and blinked in confusion.

Still somewhat hooked into his thoughts, Jessi picked up on Kyle's perplexed state of mind and explained. "Foss doesn't like to be seen. What better way to blend in with your surroundings or not be noticed than to meet at a McDonalds with a horde of noisy, over-stimulated kids running around."

Kyle grinned. "I know what you mean." His grin widened when he thought of Tom Foss, the man of mystery. "I think he likes being cryptic. And he's always warning me to be more alert and cautious." A memory of one his first encounters with the man, when Foss accosted him in the woods just outside of Zzyzx wearing a ski mask flashed in his head and his smile soon faded. The feeling of fear he'd felt when they'd struggled and he'd reached to pull the mask off came back to him almost as if it were happening. He swallowed uneasily, remembering also how many men Foss had eliminated in the past just to keep him safe. He was not a good man to have as an enemy and Kyle would never condone murder, but he was sure glad Foss was on his side.

"This is it," Jessi said as she pulled the car to the side of the road and turned off the engine. They both looked around, and listened for several seconds, but the woods seemed quiet.

A little too quiet, Kyle thought. The birds and animals that would normally be prevalent in the area weren't making any sound at all.

Shrugging, Jessi reached for the door handle to get out of the car, but paused when Kyle put his hand on her arm. She turned to look at him and their eyes met.

"This could be dangerous," he said anxious to finally be getting some answers, but a little concerned for his girlfriends welfare, and Jessi smirked, but there was a seriousness behind her eyes.

"Maybe for Foss, if he jumps out of the bushes, wearing a ski mask."

She dropped her eyes when Kyle blinked in surprise. He didn't remember ever telling her that story before.

They stepped out of the car slowly and silently, the both of them lost in thought. Kyle had barely taken two steps into the woods when a voice stopped him. He froze, quickly recognizing who it was.


	22. Chapter 22

**A.N.** I do not own Kyle XY or any of these characters.

Never Free To Be You And Me

Chapter 22

**Kyle and Jessi stepped out of the car slowly and silently, the both of them lost in thought. Kyle had barely taken two steps into the woods when a voice stopped him. He froze, quickly recognizing who it was.**

"I've been waiting," Foss said, mysteriously appearing from behind a trunk of a large pine tree.

Jessi looked at Foss and almost laughed but for the seriousness of the situation. He was wearing a black ski mask. She had just made a reference to it in the car.

Ignoring that fact, Kyle cut right to the point. "What have you found out about Amanda?"

Foss paused dramatically before saying, "Everything…and nothing. Follow me."

Jessi looked to Kyle, a puzzled expression on her face. But when Kyle didn't even glance her way, she chalked it up to merely more of the mans cryptic and strange nature. Kyle seemed to trust him implicitly, and followed him without question or comment…therefore she would too.

Briefly explaining his comment as well as the reasons for bringing them there along the way in a low emotionless voice, Foss led Kyle and Jessi deeper into the woods, instructing them not to give away their identity. Now that she knew the purpose behind why he was wearing the ski mask, Jessi thought it made sense but the knowledge also provoked a feeling of unease within her, which intensified when he handed them both a knit mask of their own to wear. Obviously he didn't want them to be seen…but why and by whom?

When they came upon the man he was holding hostage, Jessi was neither surprised nor shocked to learn who Foss suspected he was…Michael Cassidy's right hand man. She remembered seeing him on several occasions, near and around Latnok's special facility at the university. So why try to hide who they were, she wondered? If he worked for Latnok he would easily recognize them, masks or not.

"His name is Blake Becket and I have every reason to believe he not only knows what was done to Amanda, but that he had a hand in it."

Taking Tom Foss at his word, Kyle's pent up anger was at the brink of explosion. He stood arms at his sides, his hands flexing in fierce restraint as he scowled down at the man so deeply, his brow protruded through the eye-holes of the mask he was now wearing. "Do you work for Latnok?" he asked Becket.

Jessi was proud of Kyle for not reacting in haste, now was the time for answers not revenge. Though Becket's reply was expected considering the circumstances he was in, it was no less frustrating.

"NO!" He practically screamed, and if he could have shook his head for further emphasis Jessi thought he would have. He seemed to be on the threshold of hysteria, which was a good thing if they wanted answers. If he was already freaking out it wouldn't take long to push him over the edge. And if he was responsible for Amanda's illness like Foss said he was there was a strong possibility he knew something about the details surrounding her mother's death too. Had he known all along what Cassidy did to Sarah? Did he help his boss callously dispose of her body? Jessi's eyes narrowed under her mask and she smiled a grim sort of smile. She knew torturing another human being was wrong but…she was really going to enjoy this.

**A.N.** Sorry this chapter's so short…just wanted to give you something to chew on for the weekend.


	23. Chapter 23

**A.N.** I do not own Kyle XY or any of these characters.

Never Free To Be You And Me

Chapter 23

"I'll leave you two to do your thing. Have fun," Foss said as he left the clearing quickly, too quickly for either Kyle or Jessi to say or do anything about it. The both of them glanced at each other, briefly wondering where he was racing off to before turning their attention back to Becket.

Kyle got down to business at once.

"What did Latnok do to her? Why is Amanda acting so strange," he asked Becket, who had the audacity to roll his eyes at him. "And don't even think about trying to keep the truth from me, because I'll know it if you do. They did something to her mind, didn't they?"

Pain twisted Becket's features as he motioned with his eyes towards where Foss had been standing before disappearing into the forest. "Look, I already told your friend. I've never heard of this 'Latnok' that you keep referring to and whether or not they messed with anyone's mind, I haven't got a clue. Now get me out of here. I can't breathe."

Kyle stared straight into Becket's eyes, unmoved by the fact that the man was having trouble catching his breath because Foss had buried him up to his neck in dirt.

"You know what Cassidy's capable of." Kyle waited a few beats, while Becket took a few labored breaths through his nose in an effort not to get dirt in his mouth. "And, since you work for Latnok, you know what I am capable of."

"But I don't work for Latnok, so how would I know what either one of you are capable of?" Becket cringed when Kyle took a warning step towards him.

"Because Cassidy is your boss," Kyle said harshly. "You're one of Latnok's lackey's."

"No," Becket replied.

Of course he was lying. He'd been working for Latnok going on seven years now doing various jobs for them. Some as simple as routine information gathering or running background checks on recruits, some recent requests of Michael Cassidy's of a more violent and dangerous nature. But sharing that information with anyone, let alone the main subject of his employers study would be stupid and Blake Becket wasn't a stupid man.

"_Is he lying?"_ Kyle asked Jessi telepathically after she walked over to stand next to him.

_"It's hard to tell, but from what you've told me about Foss, it's unlikely he'd snatch and grab the wrong man. So it's pretty obvious Becket is lying," _she replied, still trying to get a read on his heart rate...it wasn't easy to pick up on through the thickness of the dirt, and even if she could, the current predicament he was in was reason enough for his pulse and blood pressure to be elevated.

"_Amanda is in a psychiatric ward because I brought her into my life. I'm the one responsible for her illness…But that's not important now. She needs me…needs my help…This guy is our only hope. What do I need to do to get him to talk?" _

Jessi wasn't sure if those last few lines were part of Kyle's thought process or if he had even intended her to hear them, nevertheless she answered him anyway.

"_Whatever it takes."_

Message received, Kyle squatted down and scooped up a stick. Twirling it in his hands he stared down in contemplation at the man Foss had kidnapped. A few silent yet tense moments later, as if clearly seeing what needed to be done, he advanced upon Becket, who watched his every move warily, knowing he was helpless to do anything about it.

Jessi took a step back to give Kyle more space to 'do his thing'. She was pleased to see that he was taking charge. The fact that he was manning up was not only very impressive to her, but it was much needed at the moment. In situations like this it was best to present a united front if they expected to pry any pertinent information out of Becket, none of Kyle's usual waffling over whether what they were doing was the right thing to do would be allowed.

"What did Michael Cassidy do to Amanda?" he said in a low, yet commanding voice. "Tell me the truth."

Jessi hoped they would soon find out what Latnok did to Amanda, it would be hard for Kyle she was sure, but they had to put their feelings and emotions aside for something like this.

"Who's Michael Cassidy?"

Easier said than done, Jessi closed her eyes at the last moment, and when she heard the sound of wood snapping, she swallowed hard. Obviously Kyle was going to need a bigger stick.


	24. Chapter 24

**A.N.** I do not own Kyle XY or any of these characters.

Never Free To Be You And Me

Chapter 24

Wearily making their way out of the woods and climbing back into Josh's car, Kyle and Jessi headed back down the dirt road. After the interrogation with Becket…where between the both of them, they were able to persuade him it would be in his best interest to stop being so annoyingly evasive…and after extracting all of the important information they needed from him, they were a little hungry and had some time to kill so they stopped by the nearby McDonald's they had passed on the way in for a quick bite to eat and to discuss their strategy. It was a little after two, still much too light out to break into Latnok's laboratory and steal the files on the experiments they were running on local drug addicts and homeless people. Becket had informed them that was the same location he'd brought Amanda to a few weeks back. He said the technicians had strapped her into a special chair and hooked her brain up to some kind of machine. He had tried to withhold the name of that machine from them, but had quickly determined by the look on Kyle's face that it would be a wise choice for him to give it up.

Jessi sighed a deep sigh as she settled down at the least stickiest table in the enclosed play area and waited for Kyle to bring back their food they'd ordered. The day had been long and mentally exhausting, for everyone involved she was sure, but she was satisfied with how everything with Becket had ended. Not only did he finally admit he worked for Latnok, but he ratted out his boss Cassidy and told them about the plans he had for the CIR machine.

More concerned with his brother's cruel act of revenge, Kyle had been furious when Becket admitted how Cassidy had asked him to kidnap Amanda, drug her and bring her to the lab for some kind of personality transplant. Seeing their almost identical look of anger and disgust Becket had broken down and pleaded with them for their forgiveness for the part he'd played in Amanda's transformation.

Jessi fiddled with the napkin dispenser to distract herself, but she couldn't. She couldn't help but to wonder what she would have done to Becket if Kyle hadn't stopped her. The thick stick she'd been holding in her hand, which during the course of the day she'd been carving into a stake, had been inches from Becket's eye when Kyle had yelled at her to stop. Would she have done it? Could she take another human life again? It was a question she'd tossed around in her head so many times before, but there were always too many whys and what ifs for her to come up with an answer…at least until now.

Jessi didn't think Becket's explanation that he'd simply been following orders was a good enough reason to excuse what he had done, abducted an innocent teenage girl outside of her home in broad daylight and stood by doing nothing while Latnok basically used her as a lab rat by hooking her up to their newly refurbished CIR machine, turning her mind into a muddle of confusion. Taking that alone into account, she still didn't think she should have backed off from her threat of exacting a little poetic justice with that long and extremely sharp stick, which was why she was glad she'd later had the opportunity to get some payback on Becket on Amanda's and Kyle's behalf.

After he was satisfied he had all the pertinent information he needed to try to help Amanda, Kyle had taken a private moment to calm himself down, leaving Jessi alone with Becket. In a matter of a few short minutes, she'd managed to not only get every bit of information out of him that was possible, concerning her mother's death, but after what she did to him, she had a strong feeling he would think twice before blindly following the orders of an obviously evil and vindictive leader.

"Are you okay?" Kyle had asked her when he returned to the clearing. Jessi had turned away from him, taking a private moment of her own to wipe the sheen of tears from her eyes and the trickle of blood starting from her nose. She may have been glad that she had exacted some level of revenge on Becket, but she wasn't proud of it. Yes Becket was a horrible man, but it was Cassidy who really deserved a strong dose of vengeance.

Unsure how much Kyle had overheard…all the gut wrenching details pertaining to Sarah's murder and where Becket, under Cassidy's instruction, hid her battered and mangled body…she'd told him she was fine, never better in fact. But in truth, her mind was probably as muddled as Amanda's.

Though she knew there was only one person who could help her sort things out, and bring her down from the roller coaster of emotions she was on, she also knew now was not the time. Both saddened and relieved over what she had learned about her mothers death, Kyle needed her to be strong. She let him hug her then, let him wrap his arms around her in a warm embrace. It was the kind of hug that only he could give because he'd been there before and knew what she was going through…but did he really?

"They sure have a lot of energy."

Her eyes burning from unshed tears, Jessi pulled herself back into the present and slowly twisted in her seat to watch the children enjoying themselves in the play structure.

"Yes…they do," she replied as she focused her attention on a group of toddler aged kids tearing about, who half of which were sipping on soda out of cups too large for their small hands to fit around. She smiled a little to herself before turning back around. "They're probably burning off their sugar high."

"Sorry it took so long," Kyle said once he set their food tray down on the table and sat down. "They needed to make a fresh batch of fries since you asked for no salt."

"Oh…" Jessi watched Kyle as he tore open a packet of ketchup for his fries. "You didn't have to stay there. I would have gone back to get them."

"I said I would wait." Their eyes met across the table and they held each others gaze for a long moment.

"Well that was nice of you," Jessi said a bit awkwardly. Kyle smiled pleasantly enough, but Jessi noticed it didn't reach his eyes. They ate in silence for a little bit, the memories from the clearing still entirely too fresh on their mind for much small talk. Jessi knew why it all seemed so surreal to her, why she felt like she would wake up from dreaming any moment now.

It had only been a short car ride from where they'd met up with Foss. In less than fifteen minutes, she'd gone from watching Foss busily 'tidying up loose ends' back in the woods while arguing over what to do with Becket, to having to decide whether or not she wanted fries with her cheeseburger.

Not only had she agreed with Kyle that killing Becket wasn't an option they should choose, but she had argued the point with Foss that they should keep him handy just in case any issues came up. At one point in her life, she might have opted for a different route as easily as super sizing her favorite comfort food, but she was different now. She was still haunted by the guilt for killing the hunter in the woods, even though it had been in self defense.

Of course back then, being fresh out of the pod, she didn't know any better, didn't know how heavy of a burden murder would be, not until she had to live with it…day in and day out. Some people might be able to handle it, but not her, and definitely not Kyle.

Luckily for Becket, not only was Foss in an agreeable mood, but he'd had the foresight back in Seattle to break into Beckets van, where he'd acquired an adequate supply of Dexdomitor, normally used only on animals; it would work well enough to sedate Becket and keep him calm. Coincidentally it was the same drug Becket had used on Amanda the day he kidnapped her. Kyle hadn't been too pleased to learn that fact; Jessi remembered feeling worried on several occasions during Becket's interrogation that he wasn't the only one that was going to reach some kind of breaking point…

"What are you thinking about?" Kyle asked suddenly and Jessi took a sip of her strawberry shake before answering. She didn't like the way Kyle was looking at her. Like her, his attitude and actions didn't fit what they had just gone through.

"Nothing," she said with a quick shrug as she set her cup back down on her tray. She reached for a fry, but hesitated when Kyle held her gaze.

"Tell me the truth," he replied in a low yet commanding tone of voice, realizing too late how it sounded.

As he forced a smile to soften the uneasiness his choice of words might have brought about, Jessi wondered if Kyle ever wished what she sometimes wished…that she didn't have an eidetic memory. Sometimes it was hard to stop the memories from replaying in her head or the vivid images from forming in her mind...the more unpleasant they were, the more difficult they were to keep from resurfacing…

_Flashback…_

"What did Michael Cassidy do to Amanda?" Kyle said in a low, yet commanding voice. "Tell me the truth."

Jessi hoped they would soon find out what Latnok did to Amanda, it would be hard for Kyle she was sure, but they had to put their feelings and emotions aside for something like this.

"Who's Michael Cassidy?"

Easier said than done, Jessi closed her eyes at the last moment, and when she heard the sound of wood snapping, she swallowed hard. Obviously Kyle was going to need a bigger stick.

When Jessi opened her eyes again, a crawling feeling immediately came over her. She wiggled her nose uncomfortably under the black knit material stretched tightly over her face, she could almost feel Beckets pain, the emotional more than the physical kind. He was struggling to come to terms with something he had never known before. She could understand that, but yet she didn't pity him in the slightest. The only person she could sympathize with at the moment was Kyle.

"That was only the beginning," he said. "Either tell us what we want to know or we'll make you tell us."

While Becket continued to sputter and gasp in what one might assume to be part annoyance and part astonishment, Jessi glanced to her right, studying Kyle's profile for a long moment. Hearing those threatening words come out of his mouth would have astonished her also if she didn't know he was bluffing.

Kyle being who he was, of course he would seek another road other than the use of enraged violence to get the information out of Becket that he needed. So what was he planning?

"What are you some kind of sadist?" Becket asked once his passageway was clear and he could breathe again and at any other place and time Jessi would have laughed out loud. Nothing could be further from the truth. Kyle wasn't one to get any kind of enjoyment out of hurting people…even if he knew they were responsible for causing harm to others.

"Lie to me again and you'll find out," he replied in a voice that wasn't his own. Having been in the same place once…that night with Cassidy at the Rack…Jessi knew exactly where it was coming from. "What did you do to Amanda?"

"Nothing…now let me go!"

Was Becket some kind of moron, Jessi wondered? Why would he think they would even consider releasing him without the information they came there for? "You know we're not going to let you go unless you tell us exactly what you did to Amanda."

"I'm not telling you people squat," Becket spat out, along with a wad of spit mixed with dirt that was already forming a nasty looking trail of mud down his chin. He stared at her intently, his desperation only beginning to become apparent.

Though Jessi was beginning to get frustrated and was more than ready and willing to move forward with the interrogation process, she didn't want to do anything rash or without first consulting Kyle.

She looked to him again; thinking that neither one of them was very experienced with this sort of thing. It wasn't like they manipulated people on a daily basis.

_Becket certainly isn't going to make it easy for us, _was the thought that ran across her mind as she tried to determine the best way to proceed with the situation. If he wasn't going to resort to violent torture methods, what did Kyle have in mind to get Becket to talk?

She wasn't sure how she knew, perhaps it was the wild look that lit in Becket's steely blue eyes when the wave of dirt first washed over his head, or perhaps it was the frantic way he was currently shaking his head in an effort to dislodge the smattering of ants that were biting at his cheeks and forehead.

"Get them off," Becket whined. "They're biting me."

Or maybe it was simply the thought that Kyle sent her.

"_Even Cassidy's most loyal lackey has a breaking point."_

When he motioned with his head to the right, it was then that she understood Kyle's intention, why he had missed from hitting Becket with the stick and struck the ground next to him instead. He was following Foss's instructions, 'doing his thing' the only way he knew how. But would the tactics of using brains over brawn prove to be an effective means of interrogation, she wondered? How would Kyle incorporate the use of the environment to their advantage? What would he do to bring an end to the battle of wills that seemed to be ensuing?

_Possibly, enlist the aid of another species, the persistent creature genus __Camponotus__, _she thought.

"_That's exactly what I was thinking," _Kyle told her telepathically. _"What better way to break this guy's silence and get him to talk."_

"_Torturing him psychologically rather than physically beating the information out of him," _Jessi concluded with a smirk and a quick glance Kyle's way. _"This should be interesting."_

"Ants, when they're actively foraging for food, are a lot like humans when they find themselves backed into a corner. It's in their nature to bite anything in their way," Kyle said more for Becket's than Jessi's benefit.

And as he slowly got to his feet, he looked just to the right of where Becket was buried. When he tossed the other half of the stick he was still holding in his hand Jessi had to stop herself from backing up reflexively when an army of worker ants started to swarm across the ground and then immediately began climbing onto the stick in search of food. She knew they were basically harmless, but in large numbers, having them crawling all over your body was never a good thing.

She crossed her arms and, knowing Becket couldn't see her expression under her mask allowed herself a small smile. She cocked her head to the side when she heard a crinkling sound. Becket watched Kyle curiously, trying to see what it was he had pulled out of his pocket. At first Jessi didn't know exactly what Kyle intended to do with the two ounce bag of Sour Patch Kids he normally always carried with him, but quickly understood his plan when he started tossing pieces of the sugary candy into the dirt surrounding Becket's head.

"And right now, you're the main thing standing in their way of what they desire," she informed Becket; just in case he wasn't catching on to the direction Kyle was leading him.

Becket looked out of the corner of his eye towards the pile of sawdust, trying to see where Kyle had tossed the stick. A slightly panicked gleam came into his eyes as he caught sight of it, along with a swarm of ants leaving their nest. The impact of it landing over the top of their home having stirred them up, the stick was now leading them directly towards the candy. His head being the only part of his body protruding from the ground, Jessi watched in amusement as he feebly tried to blow the trail of agitated ants away. They were persistent little creatures; Becket would hyperventilate and pass out from lack of oxygen before they ever gave up.

Just like Kyle warned him would happen if he didn't talk, in a matter of minutes Becket was covered with thousands of Camponotus pennsylvanicus, otherwise known as carpenter ants.

Perhaps if he knew they weren't as poisonous as fire ants, he wouldn't have screamed so loudly when they started to bite him en masse. But then again, according to what she'd read about them, their bites were just as fierce...almost as fierce as Kyle's determination was to learn the truth about Amanda.

_End of flashback…_

"I'm trying not to think," Jessi finally told Kyle, her words barely audible over the sound of laughter mixed with excited screams echoing throughout the enclosed room, "about things that don't matter anymore. But it's hard." Unable to hold his gaze, she looked away and reached for a fry from her tray, but he stopped her, taking her hand in his.

"I hope you don't feel...differently towards me now."

Jessi glanced up at Kyle and swallowed hard, unsure how to respond. Could he handle any more 'truths' today?


End file.
